An Orange-Headed Crane-Fly

I went out for my usual walk this afternoon, not expecting very much as the insects had become noticeably less abundant in the past few weeks with the cooler weather and shorter days.  But, on almost the first leaf I looked at, I found this rather stunning little crane fly.  It is a female Nephrotoma sp (Diptera: Tipulidae).  This identification is based on this image at bioimages.org.uk.  Members of genus Nephrotoma are also known as tiger crane-flies because of the yellow and black stripes on their abdomen (hidden by the wings in these pictures).

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-09-05.