If you look closely enough, you can see that the nettles are beginning to flower. If you look even closer you will find a whole miniature ecosystem living in the nettle bed: sap suckers, nectar feeders, predators and terrifying creatures that hunt the predators.
Here are some of the inhabitants of the nettle beds near the park’s entrance.
aphids common red soldier beetle harlequin ladybird 7 spotted ladybird larva longhorn moth cereal leaf beetle unidentified spider green orb-weaver
Photographs by Suzanne Humphries