Pale Ducks

On Sunday afternoon I was walking round the large lake with Zoe when we saw this pair of pale brown, almost white ducks.  They seemed a bit smaller than the mallards that they were with, but this photo by Dave Appleton (halfway down this page at gobirding.eu) of a very similar bird in the Scilly Isles, suggests that they are probably a domestic breed of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos).

From the relative shapes of the heads I suspect that the one above is a male and the one below a female.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-01-03.

Update on Tue 2010-01-26 by Tristram Brelstaff

Zoe tells me that these are call ducks which are, just as I suspected, a small domestic breed of mallard.  Since about a week ago, one of them seems to have disappeared and the remaining one has been hanging around with a male mallard.

Hoverfly

Another image from our holiday in Guisborough in early August: a hoverfly, probably Sericomyia silentis (Diptera: Syrphidae).  It was on the heather moor behind Highcliff, in an area of reeds and sphagnum moss.  According to Michael Chinery (Complete British Insects, Collins, 2005), S. silentis is found "mainly in damp habitats" and "It's larvae live in muddy water".

Photo taken on Guisborough Moor, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK, on 2009-08-06.

Meadow Cranesbill

From early in the summer: meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense).

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-07.

Shieldbug

A common green shieldbug, Palomena prasina (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), probably a 5th-instar nymph to judge by the development of the wings (compare with these illustrations by Ashley Wood).

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-09-22.

Plantain

The flower head of ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata).

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-08-30.