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| White dead-nettles in foreground, stinging nettles at back right |
Patches of stinging nettles are left around the Reserve for the benefit of some beetles, moths and butterflies, like the garden tiger moth and red admiral and painted lady butterflies, whose caterpillars devour the leaves and pupate on the plant. However, these aren’t the only nettles here. There are also white dead-nettles, with quite a few in flower now in the orchard. Although called a nettle, and looking quite similar to a stinging nettle, it is in the mint plant family and doesn’t have stinging hairs (note the square stems in the image below).
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White dead-nettle flowers with hairy caps and
long tubes with deep-down nectar rewards |
You are likely to see a variety of bees collecting the dead-nettle flower’s pollen and nectar. It’s a really valuable food source for early through to late bees as flowering continues most of the year, from March to December. The species that benefit generally have long tongues to get to the bottom of the hooded flower trumpet: garden bumblebees (Bombus hortorum), hairy-footed flower bees, red mason bees, common carder bees. However, some, like the honey bee, with shorter tongues will nibble a hole in the bottom of a flower to steal the nectar.
further images and information
