A roundup of London's real and imagined minibeasts, from historic grasshoppers to arty dung beetles.
We were going to do London's Best Insects... then somebody said, "What about spiders? You can't leave them out, and you'll get crucified on Facebook if you call them insects". And then we remembered some unusual worms we were once introduced to. And a famous snail. Like an infestation of bedbugs, our list quickly got out of control. Never mind. They all have a story to tell. Here, then, collectively, are the various minibeasts of London (and Watford... sorry, the scope has creeped here more than a special forces earwig).
See also: Around London in 12 elephants - Around London in 12 dragons - Around London in 13 tigers - Around London in 11 swans - Around London in 11 horses - Around London in 12 rabbits and hares - Around London in 13 pigeons - Around London in 14 lions and lionesses - Around London in 11 fish - Around London in 10 foxes.
1. The Gresham Grasshopper
Keep your eyes peeled in the City of London and it's not hard to spot a grasshopper. This auric hanging sign can be found on Lombard Street. A carved stone grasshopper lies in wait down Change Alley, while an ancient spindly 'hopper forms the weathervane of the Royal Exchange. The stridulating insect was the family emblem of Sir Thomas Gresham, a wealthy banker who founded both the Royal Exchange and Gresham College. It was probably chosen by one of his ancestors as a rebus on grass/gresh.
2. The Camberwell Beauty
Coldharbour Lane in Camberwell seems like the last place you might discover a new species of butterfly. But, back in 1748, that's exactly what happened when a naturalist observed a pair of frolicking flappers on the then-rural lane. Dubbed the Camberwell Beauty, the insect is now rarely seen in London — aside from this gigantic mural in Burgess Park, that is. The butterfly is fairly common elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. It even popped up in an episode of Fear The Walking Dead (under its North American name of the mourning cloak butterfly).
3. L'Escargot snail
London's oldest French restaurant has been trading from Greek Street, Soho since 1896. Originally called Le Bienvenue, it became famous for its snails, and so changed name to L'Escargot around 1927. The famous plaster image above the signage shows Georges Gaudin riding a golden snail, clutching the words "Slow and sure". Snails are still on the menu today, though they're no longer farmed in the basement.
4. The London Zoo dung beetles
A lot of modern sculptures get dismissed as a massive pile of excrement. This one literally is. Since 1999 (so not that modern), these two dung beetles have been working over their ball of cackmatter outside London Zoo's Tiny Giants exhibit (which itself contains many minibeasts). The sculptor is none other than Wendy Taylor, the artist behind the nautical sundial at St Katharine Docks, and the tortoise sundial in Holland Park.
5. The Mosquitoes of Bloomsbury
Ever walked along the eastern side of Gower Street? If so, then you've stepped over thousands and thousands of mosquitoes. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine keeps its stock of the bitey blighters in a specially converted coal cellar directly beneath the road. The university uses the mosquitoes for genetic, pharmaceutical and behavioural research in the ongoing fight against malaria. London's itchiest room?
6. The worms of ExCeL
Here's another venue with minibeasts lurking in the basement. The ExCeL exhibition centre in the Royal Docks has over 30 bars and restaurants, all of whom generate food waste. Any vegetarian leftovers are broken down by the inhabitants of this skip, a writhing morass of 30,000 worms. It absolutely honks, but is all for a good purpose. The resulting mulch is used to fertilise the plants and trees around the venue.
7. A trio of dragonflies
Round of applause to Morden Hall Park for being (a) beautiful and (b) installing this playful signpost in the form of a dragonfly. As one of the more elegant insects, the dragonfly pops up in sculptural form time and again. We know of at least one more at London Wetland Centre, besides this pair below:
8. The Watford Hornet
How can we attract people back to our beleaguered high streets? If you're Watford council, you install a supersized hornet right outside McDonalds. There's method in the madness, though. Watford FC, who play in bright yellow, go by the nickname of the Hornets.
9. The Waterloo spider
Everyone's seen the elephant sculpture inside Waterloo tube station, but did you ever notice the giant arachnid lurking round the corner? It's fairly well hidden, among the undergrowth on Waterloo Millennium Green, just opposite the Old Vic.
10. Roa's flea
The junction of Great Eastern Street and Ravey Street in Shoreditch will forever live in the memory as the site of one of the giant animal murals of street artist Roa (most have now disappeared, sadly, but we mapped his work back in 2010). The site has since been redeveloped into a luxury hotel whose guests, we suspect, are unaware of the corner's flea-ridden history.
11. Other temporary minibeasts
And to round off, here are a few other creepy crawlies who made their mark on London, albeit for a fleeting visit.
This was the 13th commission for Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth... unlucky 13 as it turned out, because its unveiling was delayed by the Covid pandemic:
The work by Heather Phillipson explores suitably dystopian themes, with a delicious ice cream ruined by a quad-drone and a house fly.
There was clearly something in the water. Around the same time, Monster Chetwynd won the commission to decorate Tate Britain's Winter Commission. Here's what she did with it:
Slugs, perhaps the least attractive of all minibeasts, are here rendered beautiful as they paint the gallery's classical facade in a trail of luminous slime.
Finally, this curious artwork below, by Jocelyn McGregor, was a special commission for Aldgate Square in 2022. It was only supposed to be in place for a year, but it managed to hang on for two. Snails will seldom be rushed, even half-human ones.
All images by Matt Brown
