Cardinal Beetle

A cardinal beetle, Pyrochroa coccinea (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae), on an oak leaf.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-26.

Narrow-Waisted Hoverfly

Hoverfly Baccha elongata (Diptera: Syrphidae). 

This female was searching through a patch of nettles apparently looking for aphids; whenever it found some, it would settle on the leaf or stem near them and bend down its abdomen, presumably lay an egg.  When the eggs hatch out they will be sure to find aphids to eat nearby.

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-31.

Dagger Fly (without a Dagger)

When I first saw these I thought that they must be small Bibionid flies as they were out at about the same time as the St Mark's flies (early May).  However, the key to their identification is the enlarged first tarsi on their forelegs: they are actually Hilara sp (Diptera: Empididae), a type of dagger fly which lack that family's characteristic long proboscis.

[Note added 2011-05-02: The swollen tarsi contain silk glands which is used to wrap up prey during courtship.  Only males of some Hilara species have these enlarge tarsi.  For more details, see the comment by Matthias Buck here.]

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

Hoverfly

Hoverfly Platycheirus rosarum (Diptera: Syrphidae). A single broken yellow band around a flattened black abdomen.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-30.

Dragonfly

A club-tailed dragonfly, Gomphus vulgatissimus (Odonata: Gomphidae) eating a cranefly.  This dragonfly is recognisable by its widely-separated green eyes and distinctive black and yellow pattern on its thorax.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-28.