Snake's Head Fritillary

Flowers of snake's head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-03-15.

Snake

A sidewinder, Crotalus cerastes.

Photo taken in London Zoo on 2008-03-15.

Moth

A small light brown moth, probably Agonopterix heracliana (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae). This species is fairly common in this area between January and April according to the adult phenology graph on the species' page at Hants Moths.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-03-15.

Flesh Flies

A pair of Sarcophaga sp (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) mating.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-07-28.

Hypoxylon Fungi

A branch from an oak tree (Quercus sp) with two species of Hypoxylon fungus growing on it: along the top the dark brown fruiting bodies of Hypoxylon fragiforme; along the bottom the yellowing asexual fruiting bodies of Hypoxylon howeanum (= Hypoxylon howeianum).  The latter were a subject of a post last month. In this post I take a quick look at the H. fragiforme fruiting bodies:

These yielded the following spores (magnification x600, field width 86um):

These are about 11.5 x 5um which agrees well with the 10-15 x 4.4-6.8um given for H. fragiforme but is too large for the 6.8-8.8 x 3.4-4.8um given for H. howeanum.

First photo and specimen taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-02-09.