Sun 2010-06-20 
A picture-winged fly similar but not identical to the one I saw a few days earlier. This one is probably Urophora jaceana (Diptera: Tephritidae), based on information from here. The plant that it was on appears to be knapweed (Centaurea nigra), the plant that U. jaceana lays its eggs on.
Photos taken in The Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-15.
Sat 2010-06-19 
From late last month: what I first thought was a bee, but then I noticed the dipteran-like antennae. A male hoverfly, probably Merodon equestris (Diptera: Syrphidae), a species which seems to show quite a lot of variation in the colour of its thorax, from yellow, through brown, to yellow and black, and all black. A couple of weeks later I came across the following one:
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-31 and 2010-06-15, respectively.
Fri 2010-06-18 
A rather striking longhorn beetle, Agapanthia villosoviridescens (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), on hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-09.
Thu 2010-06-17 
A female picture-winged fly Urophora cardui (Diptera: Tephritidae). I first saw one of these early last summer, but at the time I had just packed my camera away and the fly got away before I could photograph it. Over the following months I would often look for it in the same place, but without success, and I eventually gave up. Then, a few days ago, I stumbled across a second one, hiding between the spines of a thistle about 20 metres from where I had see the first. The larvae of U. cardui develop within large galls in the stems of thistles, and I have seen several of these galls in the same area over the past couple of years.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-07.
Wed 2010-06-16 
A fat black soldier fly, probably a female Odontomyia tigrina (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). When I first saw this fly, I assumed that it was just another Calliphorid, but then I noticed that the antennae were unusually long, so I carefully took some photos that allowed me to identify it when I got back home.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-06.
