Spider
A small spider, probably a female Neriene clathrata (Araneae: Linyphiidae).
Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-11-13.
A small spider, probably a female Neriene clathrata (Araneae: Linyphiidae).
Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-11-13.
From back in summer: a female Pipiza sp, possibly Pipiza noctiluca (Diptera: Syrphidae).
Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-08-12.
A female Tephritis formosa (Diptera: Tephritidae). The host plants for their larvae are sow-thistles (Sonchus sp). Mid-November seems rather late in the season for Tephtitid flies to be out and about.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-11-14.
From way back in 2001: dryad's saddle fungus, Polyporus squamosus, growing on a tree stump.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK on 2001-04-22.
A bracket fungus, probably Heterobasidion annosum, growing on the stump of what I think was a birch tree (Betula sp).
I took a small sample from the edge to examine with a magnifier at home. It showed 2 to 3 pores per mm on the underside. The pore tubes were about 5mm long. Under x600 on the microscope I was unable to find any clamp connections. These details are consistent with the fungus being H. annosum.
[Note added 2012-12-24: I managed to get some spores from a small sample of this fungus. These spores were about 10 x 8um. This is too large for H. annosum. It is more likely a Ganoderma sp, maybe Ganoderma resinaceum.]
Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-11-22.