Fri 2012-03-16 
Two wood pigeons (Columba palumbus) in a tree in front of our kitchen window. Initially the one on the left was grooming the one on the right. After a while the one on the left lowered its head as if to allow the one on the right to do the same to it:
Photos taken in Reading, UK, on 2009-03-18.
Thu 2012-03-15 
Yesterday afternoon I came across lots of small bees emerging from burrows in a patch of sandy soil on the south bank of the large large lake. They are probably mining bees of the genus Andrena, possibly Andrena bicolor (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae).
The males were distinctly smaller than the females and did not have the reddish hairs on the thorax:
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-03-14.
Wed 2012-03-14 
A black and yellow Ichneumon wasp, maybe a Cosmoconus sp (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Possible identification suggested by Camille Thirion here.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-09-12.
Tue 2012-03-13 
Common butterbur, Petasites hybridus, growing beside the top lake. Like with coltsfoot, the flowers of butterbur come out before its leaves.
Photo taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-03-11.
Mon 2012-03-12 
From autumn 2010: a birch catkin bug, Kleidocerys resedae (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). See here for a couple from the following spring.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-10-05.
