Sat 2010-02-20 
King Alfred's cake fungus (Daldinia concentrica), so called because it is was thought to resemble the cakes reputed to have been burnt by King Alfred.
Photo taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-02-13.
Fri 2010-02-19 Recently I upgraded Firefox on our Windows XP machine to version 3.6. Today I noticed that there were lots of versions of Java Console in the list of add-ons and it occurred to me that these might be slowing Firefox down (maybe Firefox was attempting to load them all on start-up?). Anyhow I haven't used Java Console for a very long time (it is basically a tool software developers) so I went to uninstall them, but their Uninstall buttons were all greyed out. Then I remembered that I installed Java from an administrator account, so I logged in as Windows administrator, started Firefox, and sure enough, I was able delete all the versions of Java Console from there.
Incidentally, you might also find Java Quick Start in the list of Firefox add-ons. The sole function of this add-on seems to be to make Java start-up faster by making sure the core Java files are always in cache. Of course this has the side-effect of slowing other things on your computer. The best way to disable Java Quick Start is via the Java control panel in the Windows start menu:
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Java > Advanced > Miscellaneous
and then untick 'Java Quick Start' (you can always re-enable it if you really find that Java is unbearably slow in starting up). You might also like to untick 'Place Java Icon in System Tray' while you're at it.
Fri 2010-02-19 
A pair of Pipunculid flies mating (Diptera: Pipunculidae). I have no idea of the species. I always think Pipunculid flies look like they are wearing crash-helmets.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-14.
Thu 2010-02-18 
An ichneumon wasp, possibly Stenichneumon militarius (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), based on similarities with photos here, here and here. Only a tentative identification.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-09-10.
Wed 2010-02-17 
Another photo from the height of last summer: the dung fly Cordilura albipes (Diptera: Scathophagidae). This specimen was in a great hurry to get away from me and this was the only photo I managed to get of it. I have not seen this species before or since. [Note added 2016-10-07: it is actually quite common - in the years 2014-1016 I collected 15 specimens]
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-27.
