Tephritid Fly

From a year and a half ago: a female Urophora cardui (Diptera: Tephritidae) on a nettle (Urtica dioica), not its normal host plant.
Photos taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-06-19.
From a year and a half ago: a female Urophora cardui (Diptera: Tephritidae) on a nettle (Urtica dioica), not its normal host plant.
Photos taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-06-19.
Tremella mesenterica growing on a branch from a broad-leaf tree.
I took the following specimen home with me:
And it yielded the following spores (magnification x600, field width 86um):
The large ellipsoidal spores are about 13.5 x 9um which agrees well with the range 10.0–16.0 x 6.0–9.5um given for Tremella mesenterica here. The numerous small spores may be contamination from the green lichen that covered most of the branch.
First photo and specimen taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-02-15.
From a few years ago: what I think is a female Helina depuncta (Diptera: Muscidae).
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-11-06.
Cramp balls fungus, Daldinia concentrica, growing on the end of a decaying beech log (Fagus sp).
Photo taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-02-15.
A snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis. No snow so far this winter though.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-02-22.