Yellow admiral butterfly

Not an inspiring day photographically. This slightly tattered specimen of Bassaris itea somehow found its way into our bathroom, so this shot is taken with floor tiles in the background. It isn't fully in focus, but the tiles would have looked awful with a larger depth of field. We put it outside again after the photo session.

This butterfly is a close relative of the New Zealand red admiral, whose caterpillars feed on tree nettle. The yellow admiral prefers the herbaceous species and in our garden there is quite a bit of the introduced European nettle. I was weeding today, but carefully avoided pulling the nettles because I didn't have my gloves. I left them for another day, or for the butterflies.