Digger Wasp

A digger wasp, Nysson sp. (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae).  It could be either Nysson trimaculatus, Nysson spinosus or Nysson maculosus.  This specimen seemed rather moribund, and hardly moved, even when I turned the leaf it was sitting on to take photos from a different angle.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK on 2009-07-19.

Common Blue Butterfly

A female common blue buttefly, Polyommatus icarus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae).  The females of this species have much less blue on them than the males do.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, University grounds, Reading, UK on 2009-07-22.

Update on Mon 2009-07-27 by Tristram Brelstaff

Here are some photos I have just taken of a male common blue butterfly:

Both of these photos were taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds on 2009-07-27.

Big-Headed Fly

A big-headed fly, (Diptera: Pipunculidae).  I am unable to narrow down the classification to genus and species.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-19.

Update on Fri 2009-07-24 by Tristram Brelstaff

I also have this photo of another big-headed fly which I took a week ago:

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK on 2009-07-16.

Mottle-Winged Fly

I noticed this rather striking little fly on my daughter's bedroom window this morning.  A search of images on the web suggest that the wing patterns best match those of Tephritis matricariae a gall fly (family Tephritidae, order Diptera).

[Note added 2011-11-22: This is actually Tephritis praecox (Diptera: Tephritidae).  Identified by 'saeed' and 'nosferatumyia'  here.] 

This specimen is a female, the side view showing a large ovipositor:

Photos taken in Reading, UK, on 2009-07-21.

Snail-Killer

Yesterday there were quite a few of these orange flies in and around the trees near the lakes.  They are the same as the orange fly that I wrote about back in May.  Comparison of the wing patterns with those in images at diptera.info (in particular here, here, and here) confirms my earlier suspicion that they  belong to genus Tetanocera (Diptera: Sciomyzidae), but I cannot narrow the classification down to the species.  As I mentioned back in May, the larvae of Tetanocera prey upon fresh water snails.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-19.