I was stretched out on the grass the other day, soaking up the summer sunshine and listening to the familiar rhythmic chirping song of an insect when the little critter suddenly landed on my arm! Was it a grasshopper or a cricket? Before I could decide it ‘pinged’ away again out of sight!

How do you tell the difference between the two? Apparently, the easiest way is to look at their antennae: crickets have long fine antennae, whereas grasshoppers' antennae are short and thick. And there are plenty of other interesting differences too: most crickets are ‘crepuscular’, which means they come out at a dusk, whereas grasshoppers are mostly active during the day, at their best in the hot sunshine. Crickets tend to eat animal matter such as smaller insects, while grasshoppers are herbivores and mostly feed on grass. They also ‘stridulate’ or sing differently; crickets sing by rubbing their wings together, grasshoppers sing by rubbing their long hind legs against their wings.

The full title of most species of cricket in the UK is actually ‘bush-cricket’. One of our most common is the Oak bush-cricket (Meconema thalassinum). It's habitat is in the canopy of mature trees, especially in ancient woodlands, so it’s a lot harder to see!  Bush-crickets are often smaller than grasshoppers, this one is less than 2cm long; it has a lime green body and a yellow/brown stripe running the length of its back. Just to complicate things, the males of this species sing not by rubbing their wings together but by drumming on leaves with their hind legs! 

The speckled bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) is easier to spot in our parks and gardens because it likes to perch in prominent places like the top of a wall or a window ledge! It has a slightly hunched appearance and its pale green body, as the name suggests, is covered in black speckles. Sadly, its song is inaudible to most human ears. 

But what we really want to know is - how high can they jump?! Apparently, it depends upon the species, but so far, the highest jump recorded for a grasshopper or a cricket is 80cm.  If that doesn’t sound impressive, the human equivalent would be jumping the length of a football pitch in one go!! 

Generally, grasshoppers and crickets are visible as adults from May to October. Female grasshoppers lay their eggs in late summer under the soil or at the base of clumps of grass. Crickets tend to lay theirs at the same time, in tree bark or along plant stems. The young hatch as wingless nymphs the following year around April, shedding their exoskeletons as they grow until they become adults around June.

If you’ve been able to let a corner of your garden grow wild, you’ll be providing these cool critters with food and a place to their lay eggs, as well as a high vantage point from which the males can serenade the ladies!  

The bright pink-purple flowers of common knapweed make it look a little like a thistle; its flower heads are ‘composite’, which means they are made up of many tiny flowers or ‘florets’. These are surrounded by a crown of ragged pink ‘bracts’ or modified leaves which serve to attract insects. These bracts are more frayed and extended in the larger dark purple flowers of greater knapweed, which is a handy way to tell them apart. 

Greater knapweed looks particularly good in gardens and could add a reliable source of nectar to your flower borders while other flowering plants go in and out of season. 

Red kites are mostly scavengers, eating carrion and roadkill, but they too can prey on rodents and even small birds, given the chance. They were once common in towns and cities across England, and it was even a crime to kill one because they were valued as street cleaners, taking away unwanted scraps. In Shakespearean London they were famous (or infamous!) for stealing washing in the spring for nest building! The bard himself referred to this habit in ‘The Winter’s Tale’ when he wrote: ‘When the kite builds, look to lesser linen’.

Their fortunes and those of the buzzard took a downward turn however, with the introduction of pesticides in farming and intense persecution by gamekeepers. By the early 20^th century there were only a few breeding pairs of red kites left in Wales and buzzards had disappeared from most of England.

Thankfully today, legal protection and a reduction in pesticides mean that buzzards are thriving once again across most of the UK. The red kite has also benefitted from the careful reintroduction of breeding pairs, and now their range is steadily spreading north and eastwards from the southwest.