Common Nettle or Stinging Nettle

This nettle is one of the nitrate-loving, salt-hating species which are found in large, continuous beds in places that are fertilised by gull colonies, and that are high enough not to be flooded at high water. For example, large tracts of the northern part of Kølholm are covered with dominant nettle beds.


The common nettle needs a lot of nitrogen but cannot tolerate much salt. Here, on the higher part of Kølholm.

The dense nettle growths provide hiding places for red-breasted merganser nests. These birds do not begin to lay eggs until the nettles have grown tall, and this makes it almost impossible to count merganser nests.




Key to the Distribution Map.