Tue 2011-09-20 
A small orange fly with a distinctive pattern of spots on its wings: probably a Homoneura sp (Diptera: Lauxaniidae).
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2011-09-01.
Mon 2011-09-19 
Last night I woke in the early hours and looked out through the window, up at the clear sky. The pulsating star Mira Ceti was brighter than I ever remember seeing it back when I was an active observer of variable stars. I judged it be slightly brighter than Alpha Ceti (mag. 2.5) at about mag. 2.4. A few nights ago it had been clearly fainter than Alpha at about mag. 2.7. Maximum is predicted to be in the next week or two, so it will be interesting to see if it continues brightening to near the historical record maximum of mag. 1.7.
The above chart is from Ball's Popular Guide to the Heavens (1905). Mira Ceti is the small star to the left of the label 'o = Mira (var)'. At its current brightness it can be compared with the following stars:
Mon 2011-09-19 
A female soldier fly, probably a Chorisops nagatomii (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). Chorisops tibialis is similar but has less bright yellow on its abdomen and is usually no longer still flying by mid-September, in southern England, at least (see the graph here).
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 20110-09-15.
Sun 2011-09-18 
Coral fungus (Ramaria sp).
Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2011-09-15.
Sat 2011-09-17 
A rusty dot pearl moth, Udea ferrugalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2011-09-15.
