In July 2025, I invited National Geographic filmmaker, Bertie Gregory, to the rooftop garden I created and maintain for wild bees on Bow Bells House. He was looking for a central London location to film bees for his Secrets of the Bees documentary. Three years in the making, and shot around the world, he wanted to include a short section on bees in cities.
For those of you who don’t subscribe to National Geographic TV or Disney+, I wanted to share what Bertie found.
- He was shocked at the sheer number of honeybees he saw on a garden I designed for wild bees. “Honeybees aren’t wild, they are more akin to livestock”, he says.
2. ‘In a corner of a patch of flowers, I have found a magical kingdom. Its king is a male Wool Carder bee”
He found Wool Carder bees on the swathes of Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) I had planted especially for them because the females collect the soft fibres from the leaves to line their nest.
3. “It’s amazing how much drama and action there is just in this little patch” – he films the male Wool Carder bee fighting off many honeybees and a Buff-tailed bumblebee.
4. Territorial males defend a patch from any bee and wait for a female to appear. Finally she arrives….and he pounces and quickly mates. Bertie thinks the male must be exhausted from all this fighting.
5. “It used to be thought that to save the bees you should put in lots of hives, but in reality what you’re doing is just introducing more competition”, he says showing hives on an nearby office rootop in London.
6. “What’s important is to give wild bee species enough space and food to thrive” and he points to the Bow Bells House rooftop by way of example.
(These photos are all taken by me from the TV screen when I was watching the documentary).
It wasn’t Bertie alone who filmed the section. Silverback Films were up on the roof too. I had met them a week earlier when they had come for a recce of the site. The director, camerman, boom operator and researcher, Tom, who had first contacted me. Thanks guys…
