Jelly Fungus

Blobs of the black jelly fungus Exidia glandulosa growing on a dead branch of an oak tree (Quercus sp).

This branch had been colonised by at least half a dozen species of fungi, of which three are visible here: to the right are purplish-grey growths of the crust fungus Peniophora quercina while the branch that has E. glandulosa on it is  also covered with small black spots of Diatrypella quercina.

I took this specimen of the E. glandulosa:

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

These are about 16 x 4um which agrees reasonably well with the 14-19 x 4.5-5.5um given for E. glandulosa here.

First photo and specimen take in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-01-25.

Shieldbugs

From the spring of 2012: a pair of Eurydema oleracea (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) mating.

Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-05-22.

Yellow Fungus

From last autumn: a Calocera sp, probably Calocera pallidospathulata, growing on decaying wood.

Photo taken at the top of Bousdale, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK, 2013-09-14.

Lichens

Lichens Lecanora chlarotera (pale disks) and Lecidella elaeochroma (black spots on light green blackground) growing on the trunk of a young tree. The colonies of the latter species tend to have black lines around them:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-01-11.

Pseudoscorpions

From the spring of 2012: a pseudoscorpion hanging on to the leg of a Lonchaeid fly (Diptera: Lonchaeidae).  Pseudoscorpions are arachnids not insects, Some species are phoretic, that is to say they hitch lifts on flying insects. The above fly appeared unable or unwilling to fly off with the pseudoscorpion attached and the latter eventually let go.

I took the pseudoscorpion home with me to get a closer look at it but was unable to identify it any further:

Here is another that I found last November on some fungus:

First photo and first specimen taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-05-24.

Second specimen taken in the Wilderness on 2013-11-02.