Yellow Archangel

A month ago I noticed these plants, with distinctive silvery markings on their leaves, sprouting out of the leaf litter in the woods near the ice house.  Although there was no sign if their flowers back then, I was able to tentatively identify them as a cultured variety of yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon).  Last week I was able to confirm this identification when I noticed yellow flowers on some of them:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-03-26 and 2010-04-28, respectively.

Sawfly

A black sawfly, probably another Dolerus sp (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), but probably not the same species as here because that one has shorter antennae.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-04-28.

Swallows

There was a pair of swallows (Hirundo rustica) flying low over the large lake this afternoon.  I suppose they were hunting the mosquitos I saw along my walk.  There were not many other insects about; the weather has turned a little cooler; 8C instead of the 16C of a few days ago,

More Bibionid Flies

A male bibionid fly, smaller than the one in my earlier post, and with reddish-brown legs.  Probably either Bibio johannis or Bibio lanigerus (Diptera: Bibionidae), but my photo is really too blurry for me to tell.  [Note added 2011-04-01: According to this comment by Theo Zeegers at Diptera.info, the hairs on the bodies of B.johannis males are black, while the hairs on B. lanigerus males are white, so the above male must be B. lanigerus.]

And this is a female of the same species (the female's eyes are much smaller than the male's).  These two flies were on the same bush and flew round each other, touching several times.

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-04-13.

And this is a female of the same species (the female's eyes are much smaller than the male's).  These two flies they flew round each, touching several times.

Lady's Smock

Lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis). 

I remember these from Kemplah field in Guisborough, back when I was 5 or 6 years old.  They used to grow in the long grass near a small pond that we used to play in (actually the pond was really just an overgrown puddle around a broken field drain).  In the field, there were also buttercups, bees, and horses, and in the pond, leeches. 

Alas, Kemplah field was long since built on, and a school has even come and gone on the site of the pond.  This makes me feel old.

Anyhow, this is what the leaves of lady's smock look like:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-04-28.