Mushroom

From 4 years ago: a birch bolete mushroom (Leccinum scabrum).

Photo taken beside the middle lake, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2007-10-14.

Goose in a Tree

An Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) perching in a tree.  Egyptian geese are unusual as geese go in that they sometimes perch, and even nest, in trees.  One year, probably back around the year 2000, our resident pair on the large lake nested at the top of the broken trunk of a tree that leaned out over the lake.  Normally they nest on the ground among the bushes on the island.

Photo taken beside the large lake, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2006-05-04.

Cork Oak

One of two small cork oak trees (Quercus suber) on the grassy area to the southeast of the large lake.

This is what the bark looks like:

And these are the leaves:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-11-16.

Orange Muscid Fly

From a warm day in early December: a female Thricops diaphanus (Diptera: Muscidae).

Photo taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK on 2011-12-03.

Blue Muscid Fly

A blue fly from two years ago: probably a male Eudasyphora cyanicolor (Diptera: Muscidae).  Initially I thought it might be another Melinda sp but in the present fly the bent vein near the tip of the wing is convex whereas that in Melinda is distinctly concave.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-11-02.