Fat-Legged Beetle

A male Oedemera nobilis (order Coleoptera, family Oedemeridae) on a meadow cranesbill flower (Geranium pratense).  In these beetles it is only the males that have fat legs; the females' legs are normal thickness.  The narrow elytra (wing covers) that don't quite fit together are characteristic of this species (both male and female).

Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-6-04.

Nettle-Tap Moth

I have tentatively identified this as a nettle-tap moth (Anthophila fabriciana).  Most of the photos of this species available on the web have them more grey and less reddish-brown than the above one, but the pattern of light and dark patches seem to match pretty well.

Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-04.

Update on Fri 2009-07-24 by Tristram Brelstaff

I spent quite a while trying to identify the following moth before I realized that it is just a nettle tap moth with more subdued colours!

Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-29.

Green Sawfly

Another sawfly, this time probably Rhogogaster viridis (another out-of-focus photo shows the characteristic green pterostigma more clearly).  In this species the pterostigma and leading edge of the wing are green, whereas those in Tenthredo mesomelas (shown here) are black.

Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-04.

Competition for Nest Sites between Sand Martins and Coots

Walking along Kennetside this morning, I saw a couple of sand martins (Riparia riparia) flying up and down the river.  This itself is unusual because I cannot remember having seen sand martins before, certainly not since I moved down south in 1988.  Hence I was quite surprised to see them in central Reading. 

On the north side of that part of the river there are several rainwater run-off pipes that stick out from the bank.  At one point, one of the martins swooped down to the mouth of a pipe, but a nearby coot (Fulica atra) raised it head as if surprised, and the martin flew up and away.  Then a few seconds later the sand martin came down again and, this time manage to perch at the entrance of the pipe.  However, when the coot saw this, it flew up, scaring the sand martin away, and  then stood itself in the entrance to the pipe, as if standing guard.  The martins then flew off up the river and, after a little while, the coot flew back down to the water and continued with what it had been doing before the interruption.

I have noticed coots trying to nest in those pipes before, but I don't think any can have succeeded because in heavy rain the flow of water from the pipes is so great that it would easily wash out any nest material.

Update on Fri 2009-06-12 by Tristram Brelstaff

The sand martins are more persistent than I thought.  On two occasions since then I have seen them going in and out of the same pipes, and the coot was nowhere to be seen.

The Destroyer of Insects

A dead dung fly, probably Scathophaga stercoraria, infected with a fungus, probably a member of the genus Entomophthora (Ento = insect, mophthora = destroyer).  Apparently, before these fungi kill their hosts, they make them move to the tip of a blade of grass or twig and stand there with their wings in the open position.  Presumably this improves the dispersion of the spores that eventually emerge from the dead body.

Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-29.