The poppies start to come down: Hundreds of volunteers begin to remove ceramic flowers from Tower of London moat

The first shift, decked out in wet weather gear, began pulling up the 888,246 hand-made flowers that make up Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red this morning, despite heavy showers. Their arms filled with the flowers' stems as they made their way through the moat, the volunteers then dismantled the poppies, placing them into cardboard boxes. Around 1,000 people a day, many of whom were among the 19,000 who 'planted' the flowers in the Tower moat between July and Armistice Day, will spend two weeks pulling and packing the flowers, with some 8,000 expected to take part overall.