Mon 2009-07-06 
A thick-legged hoverfly, Syritta pipiens (family Syrphidae, order Diptera), with its characteristically fat rear femurs. The following, rather blurry, photo better shows the banding pattern on the abdomen.
Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-05.
Sun 2009-07-05 
Last week I discovered this tiny (4mm long) orange insect on our bathroom window sill. I presume it must have flown in from the horse chestnut trees that surround our flats.
[Note added 2009-09-11: It is a lime aphid, Eucallipterus tiliae (family Aphididae, order Hemiptera). Originally I thought it might be a barkfly (order Psocoptera). However, I recently came across this image by Brian Valentine which is undoubtedly of the same species but which shows the wing veins more clearly. This key, at the National Barkfly Recording Scheme, then showed that the venation pattern is that of an aphid. A more or less random search of aphid images on the web then led me to the correct identification.]
Photos taken in Reading, UK, on 2009-06-28.
Sat 2009-07-04 
I found this moth on the wall above our kitchen table this morning. It stayed in exactly the same place all through the day. It wasn't disturbed by me preparing breakfast, doing 3 clothes washes, nor working on my laptop. Then at 5pm, when I started to prepare the evening meal, it roused itself and flew off through the open window.
I identified it as a swallowtailed moth, Ourapteryx sambucaria (family Geometridae, order Lepidoptera). Here is a view from the front:
Photos taken in Reading, UK, on 2009-07-04.
Fri 2009-07-03 
A speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria (family Nymphalidae, order Lepidoptera).
Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-03.
For reference, here is a photo which shows the upper surface of the wings of this species (photo also taken in Reading University grounds, but on 2008-07-26):
Fri 2009-07-03 
A white plume moth, Pterophorus pentadactyla (family Pterophoridae, order Lepidoptera). With their mis-shapen wings and large spikes on their legs, plume moths seem like they ought to be from another world. I came across this specimen while turning leaves, chasing a bug I wanted to photograph. See here for another species of plume moth that I came across a couple of weeks ago.
Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-03.
