Fri 2012-04-06 
From two years ago: a young oak tree with a large burl. The cause of these growths is not well understood but they could be the result of physical injury or infection by insects, fungi, bacteria or even viruses. The wood in them is apparently prized by woodworkers for its interesting grain. This tree is now dead (but still standing).
Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading Univertsity grounds, Reading, UK on 2010-04-05.
Thu 2012-04-05 
Yesterday morning I came across this yellow slime mould on the end of a log. It was near some old Ganoderma applanatum fungus, but that might have just been coincidental. Most of the slime mould's sporangia had burst to release the fluffy yellow spore mass, leaving a honey-comb of empty sporangia shells:
Under the microscope the spores look like this (x600):
And the spore mass contains these twisted capillitium filaments with pointed ends (also x600):
Taken together these indicate that the species is Trichia varia.
Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-04-04.
Wed 2012-04-04 
With the warm weather in March I started to notice these small flies flying around the leaves of evergreen bushes on the edges of woodland. I recognised them as Chloropidae but from the photos it was difficult to tell which genus they belonged to.
On the 27th I took a specimen and examined it under my new microscope:
This shows the scutellum under x60 magnification. The shape of the scutellum and the arrangement of the two long hairs at the tip are characteristic of the genus Thaumatomyia (see here). In the similar-looking Chlorops genus the top of the scutellum is more rounded and the hairs at the tip are shorter and less parallel (see the 3rd picture here).
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-03-22 (first) and 2012-03-27 (second and third).
Tue 2012-04-03 
A female Eupeodes luniger (Diptera: Syrphidae). Recognisable by the black inverted 'Y' on its frons (forehead) and by the fact that the yellow spots on the abdomen do not quite reach the lateral margins. Identification by Janet 'blowave' here.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-09-19.
Mon 2012-04-02 
A male Epistrophe eligans (Diptera: Syrphidae). The golden thorax is the most obvious feature of this species. The abdomen varies from almost all black, as with this one, to an almost Syrhpus-like banding (see here). The males tend to be darker than the females.
Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-04-01.
