Artstation (visual artists Anne Hayes & Glenn Davidson) was awarded the Shrill Carder Bee residency. The project aims to raise awareness of the flower-rich habitats needed for the Shrill Carder Bee to flourish.
The artists collaborated with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and focused their work in and around Newport Wetlands, their work referenced the three main Shrill Carder Bee populations in Pembrokeshire, Kenfig, Bridgend and the Gwent Levels.
An Immersive Engagement with the Shrill Carder Bee
Bee’s Eye View is a creative engagement project centred on the endangered Shrill Carder Bee, which was based at Newport Wetlands Centre. Rather than focusing directly on the bee itself, we used sound, poetry, and immersive sensory experiences to evoke emotional connection and raise awareness of its decline.
Participants were guided through the bee’s once-flourishing floral habitat, now reimagined through colour field installations. Using wireless headphones, they experienced a composed soundscape featuring a drone based on the bee’s distinctive pitch—created with a shruti box—and specially commissioned poetry by Philip Gross. A recording of a gong introduced each sound element, helping to centre attention and deepen focus
The workshops provided space for imaginative reflection, often inspiring participants—especially children—to playfully embody the bee. By offering a multisensory, emotionally resonant encounter with biodiversity, Bee’s Eye View helped both children and teachers decompress from urban life and connect more deeply with the natural world.
Two thematic films, Winter and Summer, drawn from the same sound poetry and colourfield experience, reflected on the bee’s seasonal cycle of absence and return, using this rhythm as a metaphor for extinction, hope, and renewal.