Mon 2012-12-17 
From last Tuesday morning: planet Venus and the crescent Moon in the pre-dawn sky. Mercury should have been visible a few degrees to the lower left of Venus, but I did not notice it at the time and so did not include it in the image.
Photo taken in Reading, UK, on 2012-12-11.
Sun 2012-12-16 
From back in summer-time: a yellow crust on a grass stem. Initially I assumed this was the eggs of some insect but now I think it is a fungus of genus Epichloe, possibly Epichloe typhina.
Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-07-15.
Sat 2012-12-15 
Netted crust fungus Byssomerulius corium growing on the underside an oak twig. Note the characteristic pitted surface and curled-over edges. The twig was about 2cm thick.
I prepared a slide of the spores using the same technique I used for Peniophora quercina. The above image (x600) shows the spores to be rounded cylinders, noticably shorter than those of P. quercina but similar in width. This is roughly consistent with the descriptions given at Mycobank which can be summarized by 'cylindrical to subcylindrical to ellipsoid, 4.5-9 x 2.3-4.5 um'.
The original specimen was taken from Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-12-06.
Fri 2012-12-14 
A pair of Limoniid craneflies mating, Limonia phragmitidis (Diptera: Limoniidae). The male (to the right) has an orange mite on its back.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-05-27.
Thu 2012-12-13 
Waxy crust fungus, Vuilleminia comedens, growing on an oak twig (Quercus sp). Note that it grows under the bark.
I prepared a slide of the spores using the same technique I used for Peniophora quercina. The above image (x600) shows them to be bent sausage-shaped and about twice as large as those of P. quercina. This is consistent with the 'cylindric to sausage-shaped, 18–20 x 5–6um' that Roger's Mushrooms gives for V. comedens.
Specimen collected in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-12-09.
