Sat 2010-05-08 
I saw this orange and black sawfly on the same bush that I first saw one last summer. It is probably an Athalia sp. (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae).
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-04.
Fri 2010-05-07 A while back, I noticed that two of my iGoogle gadgets had stopped working in Firefox on our Windows XP computer. The Gmail gadget had stopped displaying any emails and the Calendar gadget had stopped displaying any appointments. At the time I didn't particularly worry because I no longer relied on them for anything important.
Today I came across Gmail Tasks and decided to try out the iGoogle Tasks gadget. It didn't work either. It refused to accept that I was already signed into my Google account and kept prompting me to sign in again.
I had a look through my Firefox settings (Tools > Options > Privacy). I already knew that iGoogle required cookies to be enabled and, sure enough, 'Accept cookies from sites' was ticked. However, just below that was 'Accept third-party cookies' which was not ticked. I ticked it and clicked 'OK'.
Now my Tasks, Gmail and Calendar gadgets all work as they should.
Fri 2010-05-07 
A male scorpion fly, Panorpa sp. (Mecoptera: Panorpidae).
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-05.
Thu 2010-05-06 
I think spring is well and truly here. On my walks I am now seeing lots of insects that I remember from last summer, such as scorpion flies, longhorn moths, frit flies, and Tachina fera. I am also seeing some, like the above soldier fly, that are completely new to me. It is a male, probably of species Microchrysa polita (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), based on a good match with the photo here. The only similar species I have come across is Microchrysa flavicornis but that has yellow, instead of black, antennae.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-05-04.
Wed 2010-05-05 
From a early April this year: beech woodwart fungus, Hypoxylon fragiforme.
I am not sure what the small red particles are: they could be the spores of the fungus, or they might just be something else that happens to be living on the fungus. [Note added 2012-02-19: they could be Nectria episphaeria, see here.]
Photo taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-04-05.
