Hoverflies

Hoverflies Anasimyia lineata (Diptera: Syrphidae) mating in a buttercup (Ranunculus sp).  This photo was taken in the dam at the lower end of the large lake.  I often see A. lineata here.  According to Stubbs and Falk (British Hoverflies, 2nd Edition, 2002) the species "is characteristic of lushly vegetated pools of mesotrophic or eutrophic character where plants such as iris, bulrush, bur-reeds, sweet-grass and willowherbs are present".  Well, there are definitely irises, bulrushes and willowherb growing on the dam (I will have to look up bur-reeds and sweet-grass because I don't know what they look like).

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-16.

Conopid Flies

Conopid fly Sicus ferrugineus (Diptera: Conopidae).  Photo taken in The Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-08-01.

A week later, a few hundred feet higher, and a few hundred miles further north, I took this photo of the same species on the edge of the moorland behind Hangingstone, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK (on 2010-08-08).

Ormyrid Wasp

A female ormyrid wasp, possibly Ormyrus nitidulus  = Ormyrus tubulosus (Hymenoptera: Ormyridae).  According to this page at the Hedgerowmobile site, there are only 4 species of Ormyridae on the UK checklist.  There are some good pictures of O. nititudulus = O.tubulosus by P. Falatico half-way down this page at Alain Ramel's site.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-09-08.

Butterfly

What I think is a gatekeeper butterfly, Pyronia tithonus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).  The meadow brown (Maniola jurtina) and small heath, Coenonympha pamphilus, are similar and I original thought the above butterfly was a small heath but changed my mind when I noticed the 3 small white spots on the underside of the hind wing).

Photo taken in The Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-07-30.

Hoverfly

A small black hoverfly with large bright orange antennae: probably a female Cheilosia pagana (Diptera: Syrphidae).  According to  Stubbs and Falk (British Hoverflies, 2nd edition, 2002), the female of this species is "conspicuous in the field because it has a huge orange third antennal segment, clearly wider than the front femur, but the males are less obvious with their small antennae". 

The flowers are those of hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), a strange looking plant in which the flower heads are at the tips of long, straggly, often up-curved branches which have narrow pods aligned along their length, giving the impression of a green multi-strand cable.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-09-04.