Right, weekender we're going out

I seem to be adhering to the old adage 'living for the weekend' at the moment. Getting through the week at work before throwing myself into the things I enjoy most. In my teens and early 20s it would have been clubbing and music, it now seems to be walks, good food and a fair bit of natural history. The latter set is probably better for my long term health and well being than the former, although I wouldn't do things differently if I had my time again, well not much.

The weekend began with 2 moth traps in the garden for what looked like a warm evening. It lived up to its early promise and produced several hundred moths of 75(ish) species. Best among them were several NFG, and the best of these, or at least the ones that I took the best pics of were the first Oak Eggar for the garden list. 

This whopping micro also made a first appearance. The rather smart Morophaga choragella. The larvae feed on bracket fungi and possibly dead wood, or I guess the fungi that break up the dead wood.

I also had 2 Tree-Lichen Beautys (or Beauties? I'm never sure), the first record since 2017.

Today, I returned to Devil's Dyke for some family exercise. It had rained heavily overnight and the temperature was cool but the chalk had a fair few flowing plants out.  There were lots of these Clustered Bellflowers out giving a bit of colour.

and also (and excuse the shit picture) Squinancywort, the first time I've knowingly seen this species. Apparently, Squinancy is the old, obsolete name for quinsy or sore throat, with wort meaning flower. Back in the mists of time a herbal remedy was made from the plant and in liquid form was then gargled to sort it out. Given the way things are going at the moment that might be essential knowledge in the not too distant future.  

Beetles were thin on the ground apart from Rhagonycha fulva, but some vigorous sweeping of Field Scabious and assorted umbellifers turned up another new species of mordellid. These are a bugger to key out but after a few attempts to double check I'm pretty confident that this one is Mordellistena pumila. 

Post title inspiration comes in the form of Weekender by Flowered Up. The video is over 18 minutes long and brilliantly (and scarily) captures a certain section of life in the early 90s. Historical gold.