Commercial Town. Noorderplantsoen and Honeybee, Apis mellifera, on Symphoricarpos albus, Groningen, The Netherlands
A part of the former seventeenth-century bulwarks and defenses of Groningen (1608-1642) has since the late nineteenth century given way to a delightful park, the Noorderplantsoen (see inset for a view). Groningen, at the confluence of two rivers giving access to the Waddenzee and then the North Sea, was never a very militaristic town and far more interested in trade and industry. Especially important was shipping to Scotland, the Baltic and also 'the West' (western Africa and South America, in particular Brazil). One of the wharfs of the West Indies Trading Company (WIC) was to the southeast of the water you can see in the inset.
The main photo has a European Honeybee - a symbol, of course, of industry and commerce - visiting a Smooth Snowberry, which has made its way through commerce from the Americas to Europe. Honeybee likely is 'wild' or from the hive of a hobby man; she's an example of her sisters in the wonderful mosaic in Brugstraat 7 (see: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/16334368123/in/photoli...).
Commercial Town. Noorderplantsoen and Honeybee, Apis mellifera, on Symphoricarpos albus, Groningen, The Netherlands
A part of the former seventeenth-century bulwarks and defenses of Groningen (1608-1642) has since the late nineteenth century given way to a delightful park, the Noorderplantsoen (see inset for a view). Groningen, at the confluence of two rivers giving access to the Waddenzee and then the North Sea, was never a very militaristic town and far more interested in trade and industry. Especially important was shipping to Scotland, the Baltic and also 'the West' (western Africa and South America, in particular Brazil). One of the wharfs of the West Indies Trading Company (WIC) was to the southeast of the water you can see in the inset.
The main photo has a European Honeybee - a symbol, of course, of industry and commerce - visiting a Smooth Snowberry, which has made its way through commerce from the Americas to Europe. Honeybee likely is 'wild' or from the hive of a hobby man; she's an example of her sisters in the wonderful mosaic in Brugstraat 7 (see: www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/16334368123/in/photoli...).