Male Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissi

19 July

The speckled bush-crickets are now reaching adulthood and this is a male. There are still speckles over the body but there is also a brown stripe down the centre. It is flightless with reduced brownish wings. Most active at dusk and during the night, males call to attract females by rubbing their wings together, but their 'song' (a high-pitched 'chirp') is barely audible to human ears and is best heard with the aid of a bat detector. The body is about 18mm long, with antennae and hind legs about twice that length. They can be found in open woodland, scrub, gardens and hedgerows but their colouring and secretive lifestyle, hidden away in the undergrowth, mean they often pass unnoticed. They are herbivorous, feeding on a range of shrubs and other vegetation. In our garden they particularly like the petals and pollen on bright flowers.