Summer is the perfect time to tune into the sounds of nature, and among the season's most distinctive performers are grasshoppers and bush-crickets. Their rhythmic chirps and buzzing songs fill meadows, hedgerows, and gardens, often revealing these well-camouflaged insects long before they're seen. Whether you're out on a countryside walk or simply enjoying a warm evening outdoors, listening out for these remarkable musicians is a great way to connect with the wildlife around you.

Common Green Grasshopper

One of my favourite wildlife experiences is to sit in a flowery grassland listening to the sound of grasshoppers. This grasshopper shares my passion for flowery grassland and has a ‘song’ that is particularly distinctive – it sounds like a rattle that slowly builds in intensity.

Stripe-winged Grasshopper

You’ll need good hearing to pick the sound of this one up, it’s relatively high frequency for a grasshopper. It has a rasping metallic quality to its buzz. Male Stripe-winged Grasshoppers are striking looking insects, generally green, but with a red/orange tinge to the end of their abdomen. The females look very similar to Common Green Grasshoppers, and like Common Green Grasshoppers are fond of flowery grassland! I’ve received a few new sightings of this species from previously well surveyed sites so it seems to be spreading in our area.

Field Grasshopper

When most of us think of prime grasshopper habitat, we imagine long grass – just to be different this species is a fan of short grass and those of you lucky enough to have a lawn may well find you have a colony of Field Grasshoppers sharing it with you. Rather than the sound of a rattle this one produces a series of chirps.

Roesel’s Bush-cricket

A relative newcomer to our area, Roesel’s range underwent a massive expansion in the in the 80s and 90s, it’s now one of our most common species. Look out for it in long grassland and keep your ears peeled (if that’s a thing!) for its long monotonous buzz, some people say it sounds like the buzz given from electricity pylons. You’ll need to be young or have the aid of a bat detector to hear the song though as it’s high frequency. 

Oak Bush-cricket

Unlike the others, Oak Bush-crickets don’t produce any noise. As its name suggests it is associated with trees although not exclusively Oaks. It’s very common in our area but not often seen unless a special effort is made to look at the underside of leaves where it adopts a very yogic looking pose. If looking under Oak leaves is too much, you may be lucky enough to have one visit you if you’ve left your windows open on a hot late summer night.

Find out more

If you'd like to check out further information on our crickets and grasshoppers, take a look here: www.hnhs.org/content/orthoptera-and-allied-insects

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