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
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 
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