Pre-Prep Forest School

This week in Forest School, Pre-Prep explored the wonderful world of nettles. We learned how to spot them by their hairy stems and droopy catkins—and how to avoid their sting! If you do get stung, dock leaves or cold water can help.

We also discovered that butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of nettle leaves, and when the caterpillars hatch, the leaves are their first meal. Aphids live on nettles too, and they are eaten by ladybirds. Birds eat the seeds, and hedgehogs, frogs and toads eat the plants as well.

We found out that people eat nettles too—in cheese, soup, beer, crisps and salad! We even tried nettle tea this week – it had a mixed reaction! During World War II, nettles were used to dye cloth for camouflage. What a useful plant!