You may barely notice it happening, your ears and eyes registering nothing of their presence alongside you as you walk around the cemetery. Then as spring moves into summer, you will one day hear or see your first bush-cricket or grasshopper of the year. To help prepare you to be thrilled by these exquisite creatures, here’s a quick guide to their mysterious ways.
These insects are two of the three sub-families of the orthoptera order. (The third is the sub-family of groundhoppers, which resemble small grasshoppers. Because they prefer moss and algae and damp locations, we don’t expect to find these in the cemetery . . . although we might.) All sub-families are thought to be the most ancient group of plant-chewing insects.
These creatures hatch from eggs, emerging as nymphs. They then undergo five moults, gradually metamorphosing into adults at each stage. Unlike other insects, they therefore have no larval or pupal stage. In the photographs below, look out for the sword-like ovipositor of female crickets. They use this to cut open vegetation and lay eggs inside grass and plant stems, or lay them directly into the ground.
On a hot July or August day, Heene Cemetery comes alive with grasshoppers and crickets. Gently move your hand through blades of grass, and they’ll most likely launch themselves with a flick of their hind legs. On a quiet day, listen for the characteristic susurration of grasshoppers rubbing their legs against their wings; crickets do this by rubbing their wings together – but in the evening.
In the cemetery, we’re just scratching the surface of what there may be. Go for a walk on the South Downs and you may see many more.
| Crickets | Grasshoppers | |
|---|---|---|
| Different species in Britain | 23 | 11 |
| Species so far recorded in Heene Cemetery | 4 | 3 |
| Diet | grasses, plants and insects | exclusively herbivorous |
| Likely calling time | dusk | daytime |
| Stridulation mechanism | rub wings together | rub hind legs against wings |
| ‘Ear’ location | on front legs | at the base of abdomen |
| Antennae | very long and thin, curving | short and stubby, club-like |
| Can they fly? | many, but not all | yes, all but some Meadow Grasshopper and the Speckled Bush-cricket |
| Female sword-like ovipositor? | yes | no |
A gallery of Heene Cemetery’s bush crickets and grasshoppers
The following images were all taken in the cemetery. As a general guide, crickets are slightly larger than grasshoppers, and none are longer than 2.5 cms in length (antennae excluded).
Common Field Grasshopper
The Common Field Grasshopper has an extremely variable appearance, with colours ranging from brown to green to purple to white. Adults appear from June until late autumn.
The individual photographed here is a mature adult, discernible from its hairy thorax and abdomen and by the indent in its pronotum (the shield plate behind the head).
There’s a nice video on YouTube of a Common Field Grasshopper calling (or ‘stridulating’) by rubbing its legs against its wings. The resulting ‘song’ consists of hard “SST” sounds of about 0.2 seconds in duration, produced at intervals of about 2 seconds. When a male Common Field Grasshopper hears this, he knows it’s another male of the same species singing, so he joins in. There is then a regular alternating song between the two males, where each male sings in the gaps within the song of the other male. The purpose, of course, is to attract female grasshoppers, and it’s likely that the two males are competing for nearby females.
Lesser Marsh Grasshopper
Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers have back legs with three segments. They have ridges along the top edge of the thorax, called keels, which are useful for identification. They can occur in dry vegetation, not just in damp areas as the name suggests. The white stripe on the leading edge of the wing is characteristic of this species, as are the nearly parallel sides of the pronotum (the plate behind its head), and the absence of black knee patches to their rear legs.
Meadow Grasshopper
As their name suggests, Meadow Grasshoppers prefer grassland habitats. They are common and widespread in Britain. They may be green with brown wings or entirely green. Females can also be vivid pink.
Whereas males have full-length wings reaching almost to the end of their abdomen, females have smaller, undeveloped ones that are half that length, as can be seen above.
Long-winged Conehead
The Long-winged Conehead is a bush-cricket. The one above has full length wings, a brown stripe on the head, and a straight ovipositor for laying eggs – so is a female.
Nymphs of the Long-winged Conehead cricket have short, undeveloped wings. The black (not brown) stripe also identifies them. The individual below lacks an ovipositor so is a male.
This individual below has an undeveloped blade-like ovipositor so is a female nymph.
Roesel’s Bush-cricket
Roesel’s Bush-cricket is usually a wingless species, but a winged form may be found. It favours damp meadows and grassland and has a distinctive green or cream border to the pronotum (the plate-like structure behind the head that covers all or part of the thorax). It is found from June to November. The Roesel’s Bush-cricket is found in central and southern England. It is rare in the west and north and has not (yet) been seen in Scotland.
This cricket has feet especially adapted to enable it to clamp onto the stems of grasses. The individual above is a male.
Perched on one of our volunteer’s hands, below, the size of this creature can be better appreciated. This is the same male whose photograph appears above.
Note the distinctive green border to the saddle-shaped pronotum, above.
The Roesel’s Bush-cricket was named after August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof (1705 – 1759), a German entomologist.
Southern Oak Bush-cricket
The wings of the Southern Oak Bush-cricket remain as tiny flaps – as can be seen in the photograph above – often giving it the resemblance of a large nymph of a different species. This species was considered absent from Britain in the 1980s, so has migrated northwards from Europe in recent decades – which is interesting given that it is flightless.
This is a carnivorous, nocturnal and arboreal species, so we were lucky to photograph it in the Cemetery on a gravestone in mid-afternoon in September 2021. It does not stridulate, but instead drums a hind leg on a leaf in short bursts.
The individual in the photograph above is a male.
Speckled Bush-cricket
The Speckled Bush-cricket is a flightless species, green with minute black speckles, and an orange-brown stripe along the back.
These first two photographs capture a Speckled Bush-cricket in profile, enabling you to see the ovipositor that only female crickets have. This is a sword-shaped appendage inserted into the ground – or the hollow stems of grasses – to lay eggs. Both photographs show this tiny creature on a Wild Carrot, an umbellifer.
The Speckled Bush-cricket is generally secretive, but may be found from April to November. The one above is a male.
Pests or pollinators, predators or prey?
Until recently, scientists thought that this group of insects were merely pestiferous herbivores. However, recent research has shown that they may play a role in pollination, collecting pollen grains on their antennae and legs as they feed.
When you consider that bush-crickets have a varied diet, grazing on grasses and plants as well as snacking on insects, it is much harder to consider these insects as pests. Some crickets eat caterpillars and greenfly, others eat the larvae of Colorado beetles, and others eat the cockchafers that would otherwise be wreaking havoc in your vegetable garden or allotment. In turn, they too are prey for other creatures. Blackbirds, Robins and Starlings are just some of the birds that will eat grasshoppers and crickets. Slowworms and Common Lizards also eat them. On balance, we should therefore be thinking of these tiny creatures as being very useful.
Besides, shouldn’t we be valuing these fascinating creatures not just for what they do, but also for what they are?
Niches and adaptation
Crickets and grasshoppers tend to be very fussy about the habitats they occupy. While there may be 34 different species found in Britain, only a third of these are common or widespread. The remaining two-thirds will be suited to very specific habitats, and will not be generalists. As climate change increases, their tolerance of traditional habitats is coming under increasing strain.
In addition, with every application of pesticides and herbicides, these creatures suffer diminishing opportunities. The cemetery has perhaps 17 different species of grass – a consequence of its very special origins as ancient meadowland. Leaving these grasses to grow long throughout summer – which is deliberate practice in Heene Cemetery’s single acre – favours these creatures better than almost anything else that we do.
Written by Rob Tomlinson
If you would like to support the work of the Friends of Heene Cemetery, you can become a member at an annual fee of £5. Contact the Membership Secretary, Friends of Heene Cemetery, c/o 77 Northcourt Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN14 7DU. The Friends are ‘recruiting’ at the moment and would welcome volunteers interested in participating in these species counts, in the site’s management, in researching the burials, and in many of the administrative tasks. For more information, please contact Sue Standing on 07771966846 or suestanding@hotmail.com. The Cemetery is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 2 and 4, weather permitting. Come and pay us a visit!
