Fri 2012-01-27 
A female hoverfly: Volucella inanis (Diptera: Syrphidae). With its broad yellow face this species mimics the hornet Vespa crabro.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-08-03.
Thu 2012-01-26 
CodeIgniter is a popular PHP framework for building websites. I have long suspected that the way it reports errors was unnecessarily complicated. Well, last week I finally got round to really trying to understand what was going on. The above diagram summarizes what I learnt. Click through and select 'download' to see a larger version.
This information applies to my current setup which is CodeIgniter 2.1.0, PHP 5.3.2 and Apache 2.2.14 all running under Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. There might be some differences for other setups.
Thu 2012-01-26 
A capsid bug, probably Capsis ater (Hemiptera: Miridae). In the summer I often find these in long the grass climbing up and down the stalks. The swelling at the outer end of the 2nd antennal segment is a characteristic of this species. This specimen shows more orange than the one in my earlier photo here.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-27.
Wed 2012-01-25 
A varied carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci (Coleoptera: Dermestidae). Their larvae can be a serious domestic pest.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-12.
Tue 2012-01-24 
A wet rot fungus, probably Coniophora puteana, growing on a decaying log.
The white toothed crust fungus at the bottom of the second photo is probably a separate species.
Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2011-11-19.
