White Melilot

Flowers of white melilot, Melilotus albus.

The leaves looked like this:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK on 2010-07-13.

UK Tephritidae

A few days ago I was playing around with the mind-mapping tool FreeMind.  As an exercise I took some data from the checklist of UK Diptera, added a few of my own photos, and within a hour produced the following diagram of the UK Tephritidae:

I had to slightly reduce the size of the PNG image to fit on the page which explains the slightly indistinct lines and lettering (I would have used an SVG image but, apparently, Internet Explorer 8 doesn't support SVG).  It would be possible to extend the diagram with details of host plants, links to NBN distribution data, etc.

Snake

A Gabon viper, Bitis gabonica.

Photo taken in London Zoo on 2008-03-15.

Hoverfly

A hoverfly from mid-summer 2010: a male Cheilosia illustrata (Diptera: Syrphidae).  This individual is unusual in that it standing with its wings apart revealing a shiny black band on the abdomen.  Normally this species stands with its wings folded together over the abdomen, and the black band on the abdomen makes look like there is a single dark band right across the wings.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-29.

Crust Fungus

What I think is the crust fungus Peniophora quercina on a branch of an oak tree.

The following specimen has dried out and its surface has faded and cracked:

And this specimen has a  deeper colour and a slightly different texture but I think it is still P. quercina:

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2011-12-26, 2011-02-25 and 2011-12-21, respectively.