Yellow Admiral Butterfly

Vanessa itea

I've been trying to get a decent photo of one of these beauties for a long time, but they are always too quick for me. When I catch up on one it invariably folds its wings. I saw this one sunning itself this morning as I was watering the vegetable garden. I hurried for my camera and zoomed in on it. Then I carefully moved towards it, taking a shot with each step. This was as close as I got before it flew away. I'd have loved to have taken a macro of it, but it would not have put up with that.

Yellow Admirals are the most common butterfly, next to the cabbage white, that appear in my garden. I attract them with cared-for common nettles, (Urtica urens), for the caterpillars, and a Buddleia bush for the butterflies.

Very rarely a Red Admiral will visit the Buddleia, but their caterpillars prefer the native nettle, Urtica ferox. This is the nettle that attacked hpx, with nasty consequences. There are none of those around here.

You can see by the leaf shown that cabbage white butterflies are very active. Not only holes, but I can see some of their eggs in the shot. They will require digital control.