Dead Mouse

From over four years ago: a dead harvest mouse, Micromys minutus.

Photo taken in Alexandra Road or Elmhurst Road, Reading, UK on 2007-09-09.

Capsid Bugs

A male Harpocera thoracica (Hemiptera: Miridae).

The females have less black and more brown:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-05 and 2010-05-17, respectively.

Muscid Fly

Female muscid fly Phaonia tuguriorum (Diptera: Muscidae).  Identification confirmed by 'oxycera' here.

Photos taken in Whitenights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-03-15.

Wood Pigeons

Two wood pigeons (Columba palumbus) in a tree in front of our kitchen window.  Initially the one on the left was grooming the one on the right.  After a while the one on the left lowered its head as if to allow the one on the right to do the same to it:

Photos taken in Reading, UK, on 2009-03-18.

Mining Bees

Yesterday afternoon I came across lots of small bees emerging from burrows in a patch of sandy soil on the south bank of the large large lake.  They are probably mining bees of the genus Andrena, possibly Andrena bicolor (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae).

The males were distinctly smaller than the females and did not have the reddish hairs on the thorax:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-03-14.