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Tower Of London's Poppy Display Is Becoming A Sea Of Mud

This Is What The Sea Of Poppies Looks Like Now
Jack Sommers
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Hundreds of thousands went to see the poppies at the Tower of London. Now, just a week after the huge display was the centre piece of the Remembrance Day celebrations, they are gone and the tower's moat is around half way to becoming a sea of mud.

Thousands of volunteers began removing the 888,246 poppies that had been planted over several months - each representing a British or Commonwealth soldier killed in the war - as part of the Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red installation.

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The volunteers removed each ceramic flower for it to be cleaned, packed and posted to buyers who bought each one for £25 to raise millions for military charities.

The last poppy is expected to be removed on November 28.

The process is a strange reversal of what actually happened at First World War battlefields, where fields of barren mud were replaced with fields of poppies that could only grow after four years of conflict ended.

Poppies Removed from Tower Of London
(01 of11)
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The final patch of ceramic poppies that form part of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation are dismantled by volunteers at the Tower of London. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(02 of11)
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The final patch of ceramic poppies that form part of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation, are dismantled by volunteers at the Tower of London. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(03 of11)
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The aftermath of the moat at the Tower of London, where volunteers have helped to dismantle the ceramic poppies that formed part of the installation, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(04 of11)
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The aftermath of the moat at the Tower of London, where volunteers have helped to dismantle the ceramic poppies that formed part of the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(05 of11)
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The aftermath of the moat at the Tower of London, where volunteers have helped to dismantle the ceramic poppies that formed part of the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(06 of11)
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Men carry metal framework past remaining poppies as volunteers help dismantle the ceramic poppies at the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London. (credit:Nick Ansell/PA Wire)
(07 of11)
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A volunteer helper walks past boxes of dismantled poppies at the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London. (credit:Nick Ansell/PA Wire)
(08 of11)
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Volunteers help dismantle the ceramic poppies at the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London. (credit:Nick Ansell/PA Wire)
(09 of11)
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Members of the public walk past the Tower of London where volunteers have helped to dismantle the ceramic poppies that formed part of the installation, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.Picture date: Tuesday November 18, 2014. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(10 of11)
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The aftermath of the moat at the Tower of London, where volunteers have helped to dismantle the ceramic poppies that formed part of the installation, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
(11 of11)
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plaque explaining the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red outside the Tower of London, where volunteers have helped to dismantle the ceramic poppies that formed part of the piece by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper. (credit:Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)
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