Sat 2009-05-16 
A capsid bug (family Miridae, order Hemiptera), probably Rhabdomiris striatellus. British Bugs has some good photos of this species here, along with some of the similiar Miris striatus here. Both of these species are often found on oak trees, as was the specimen pictured above.
Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-10.
Thu 2009-05-14 As imagined by Orhan Pamuk in My Name is Red (translation by Erdağ M. Göknar):
Miraculously, however, Sultan Ibrahim Mirza's marvelous volume did not remain unfinished, for in his service he had a devoted librarian. This man would travel on horseback all the way to Shiraz where the best master gilders lived; then he'd take a couple of pages to Isfahan seeking the most elegant calligraphers of Nestalik script; afterwards he'd cross great mountains till he'd made it all the way to Bukhara where he'd arrange the picture's composition and have the figures drawn by the great master painter who worked under the Uzbek Khan; next he'd go down to Herat to commission one of it's half-blind old masters to paint from memory the sinuous curves of plants and leaves; visiting another calligrapher in Herat, he'd direct him to inscribe, in gold Rika script, the sign above a door within the picture; finally, he'd be off again to the south, to Kain, where displaying the half-page he had finished during his six months of travelling, he'd receive the praises of Sultan Ibrahim Mirza.
At this pace, it was clear that the book would never be completed, so mounted Tartar couriers were hired. In addition to the manuscript leaf, which was to receive the artwork and scripted text, each horseman was given a letter describing the desired work in question to the artist. Thus, messengers carrying manuscript pages passed over the roads of Persia, Khorasan, the Uzbek territory and Transoxania. At times, on a snowy night, page 59 and 162, for example, would cross paths in a caravansary wherein the howlings of wolves could be heard, and as they struck up a friendly conversation, they'd discover that they were working on the same book project and would try to determine between themselves where and in which fable the prospective pages, retrieved from their rooms for this purpose, actually belonged.
Tue 2009-05-12 
A large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). The thick black bands with thin white bands indicate that this is a female. In the males the black bands are much less noticable and the white bands are absent.
There is a good species checklist of UK dragonflies and damselflies, with many photos and lots of other useful information, here at the British Dragonfly Society website.
Photo taken beside the large lake, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-10.
Mon 2009-05-11 [Note added 2009-07-04: I now think that these were psyllids rather than aphids. See below for details.]
When I first saw these white fluffy masses I thought they must be some form of fungus, but then I noticed that one of them had legs and was walking:
These are woolly aphids, of the family Eriosomatidae in the order Hemiptera. They secrete a filamentous waxy white covering as a defence against predators. They also secrete droplets of sundew, several of which can been seen in these pictures. The tree is a common alder (Alnus glutinosa).
[Note added 2009-07-04: this post by Phil Gates, a botanist at Durham University, suggests to me that these are the nymphs of psyllids, in particular Psylla alni, the alder psyllid (family Psyllidae, order Hemiptera). Psyllids are closely related to aphids and they also secrete waxy white filaments.]
Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-10.
Sun 2009-05-10 
A bumble-bee, probably a common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), feeding on comfrey flowers.
Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-05-10.
