Fri 2010-08-27 
A tiny black Tachinid fly, probably Phasia pusilla (Diptera: Tachinidae). [Note added 2011-05-02: Could also be Phasia barbifrons which was added to the British list in 1999.]
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-08-03.
Thu 2010-08-26 
Muscid fly Mesembrina meridiana (Diptera: Muscidae). Recognisable by the large yellow patches at the wing bases which contrast strongly with the black body. I was surprised by how large this fly was: it was more the size of a bluebottle than a house fly.
Photo taken behind Hangingstone, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK, on 2010-08-08.
Wed 2010-08-25 
A dagger fly, probably Empis livida (Diptera: Empididae).
Photo taken on the banks of the River Tees in Barnard Castle, County Durham, UK, on 2010-08-06.
Tue 2010-08-24 
A green tiger beetle, Cicindela campestris (Coleoptera: Carabidae). There is a good account of this species here at the Watford Coleoptera Group site, but the photos there seem a bit too blue to me.
Photo taken behind Hangingstone, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK, on 2010-08-08.
Mon 2010-08-23 
A dark blue sawfly, probably Arge berberidis (Hymenoptera: Argidae). Although this specimen was on wild carrot (Daucus carota), the larvae of this species eat the leaves of barberry bushes (Berberis sp) which I seem to remember seeing growing somewhere in the Reading University grounds.
According to this page at the Royal Horticultural Society, A. berberidis is a recent introduction to Britain having been first noticed here in 2002.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-08-19.
