Bee Eater (Lenicio) (1) - Basil Ede - Royle 1975 - Framed Vintage Poster Print - 16"H x 12"W

A 16"H x 12"W" framed Vintage Poster Print of a Bee Eater - Lenicioe (Printed by Royle Publications)

The first one man exhibition of Basil Ede's work was held at the Rowland Ward Gallery in London in 1958. Further one man exhibitions followed at London's Tryon Gallery in 1960 and 1962.

In 1964, Ede became the first living artist to be honoured with a one man show at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington D.C. The event was sponsored by the British Embassy, the English Speaking Union and the National Audubon Society.

The bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa and Asia but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea.

As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat flying insects, especially bees and wasps, which are caught in the air by sallies from an open perch. While they pursue any type of flying insect, honey bees predominate in their diet. These bees attempt to congregate in a mass defense against these birds.

Before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the stinger by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect thereby extracting most of the venom. Notably, the birds only catch prey that are on the wing and ignore flying insects once they land.

Bee-eaters are gregarious. They form colonies by nesting in burrows tunnelled into the side of sandy banks, such as those that have collapsed on the edges of rivers.