Walking with Crickets

Come on a short sound walk with Sue Morton who writes:

What could be nicer than strolling along in the dark on a fine summer night listening to crickets? It’s something I never get tired of, although passers-by tend to give us a wide berth when we’re poking around in the undergrowth with the bat detector.

The noise that bush crickets make is too high-pitched for most people to hear, especially as we get older, and the bat detector brings it down to an audible frequency. It also makes it easier to identify different species, as they have different “songs” and also sing at different frequencies. This recording, with a bit of commentary, was made by me in the field at the end of my road, and also in my garden, in the middle of August.

Dark bush crickets in Brickell’s meadow followed by speckled bush crickets in the garden, late one evening in August 2022. (Sue Morton)

Unlike grasshoppers, crickets “sing” by rubbing one wing underneath the other. Speckled bush crickets have only tiny, vestigal wings which accounts for the very high frequency – 40 kHz – short clicks they make. The wings in the inset to the photo are a bit fuzzy because – by chance – he was caught in act of clicking.

Dark bush cricket nymph, Brickell’s Meadow, 2022.

Sue Morton, 9 September 2022.

Members are strongly encouraged to share their sightings or other items of Natural History interest via these blogs. Simply email some text and a photo (as an attachment) to blog @ thefieldclub.org.uk (remove the spaces next to the @).