365/132: 01 July 2010: In praise of Stinging Nettles

I’m always surprised by the number of things we write off as pests, or just plain ugly, and then pass by on a daily basis without a second thought. Taking stinging nettles – yup, they’re a pernicious weed – yup, it hurts when you grab one by mistake. Buuuut…in isolation they could be considered quite handsome, and when backlit like these they are actually quite striking – almost pretty.  And if that weren’t enough, they make good soup and without the caterpillars of peacock, small tortoiseshell and red admiral butterflies would have nowhere to lay their eggs, and we’d have to go without so rather delightful butterflies. So let’s hear it for one of natures underdogs…