Another Knapweed Gall Fly

Gall fly Chaetostomella cylindrica (Diptera: Tephritidae) on knapweed (Centaurea nigra). Similar to, but distinguishable from the Terellia tussilaginis that I saw on burdock (Arctium sp.) last year.

Last year I saw one of these flies on yarrow (Achillea millefolium) but, at the time, conjectured that it had just been blown off some nearby thistles.  Well, the above fly was in the same area so it seems more likely that last year's fly was blown off the knapweed onto the yarrow.

A few weeks ago I saw another species of gall fly, Urophora jaceana, on knapweed, but that was over in the Wilderness, quite a way away.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-07-04.

Scarlet Tiger Moth

I was walking up from the town with my shopping last Saturday morning when I noticed this rather splendid moth on the path.  I bent down and took it up on my finger, where it stayed all the rest of the way home.  I set it down on our living room window where I took a few photos before releasing it through the window.

It is a scarlet tiger moth, Callimorpha dominula (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae).  This species is common in south-west England and Wales but must be near the edge of its range here in Reading.

Photos taken in Reading, UK, on 2010-07-03.

Sparrowhawk

Yesterday morning I was walking up Whiteknights Road minding my own business, when something crashed through the leaves of a tree on the other side of the road and a blackbird gave hurried alarm call. Then a brown pigeon-sized bird, dropped out of the tree, nearly to the surface of the road before it rose up  over the hedge, then back again over the road, a sharp right-angle turn to avoid a moving car, a quick flash of lighter underparts, then back along the top of the hedge, then off into to the woods.  All in a few seconds.

Green Beetle

What I think is probably Oedemera lurida (Coleoptera: Oedemeridae), a dull relation of the more spectacular Oedemera nobilis that I photographed a few days later.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-26.

Hoverfly

One of the first hoverflies of this year for me: probably Eupeodes luniger (Diptera: Syrphidae), similar to Scaeva pyrastri but the yellow curved markings on its abdomen are yellow instead of white.  (Actually, the curved markings on E. luniger seem to vary quite a lot in both curvature and thickness, see here and here.)  The above specimen is probably a female, as is the following which I photographed a couple of weeks later:

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-04-20 (the male) and 2010-05-04 (the female).