into the world of orthopteran rhythms
grasshoppers, crickets & bush-crickets
Evening
choruses France | Evening choruses Poland
| Grasshoppers Britain
Sounding like orthopterans | Some
questions
Click
on the pictures to open a larger image
 Evening
cricket communities - Southern France
Original
recordings were made at 96k/24bit to capture any ultrasonic components;
these sequences have been converted to 44.1k/16bit mp3s to reduce
the file size.
Causse
Noire heath (708KB) Cevennes, August
Causse Noire pines (712KB)
Cevennes, August
Gramat
open woodland 1 (708KB) Dordogne, August
Gramat open woodland 2
(708KB) Dordogne, August
Gramat open woodland
3 (708KB) Dordogne, August
Heath
Bush-cricket (312KB) Cevennes, August
Sings
during the heat of the day. A common sound on the dry causse plateaux
of the Cevennes in August. The songs of many bush-cricket species
have a lot of energy in the very high frequency band; some are too
high for us to hear. I find some of these high frequency buzzes
irritating on the ears, even though they might not sound particularly
loud.
Unidentified
species (764KB) Cevennes, August
Recorded
in the early morning in the situation pictured. This is at half
speed and pitch. Can anyone throw some light on this? I'm wondering
about Rough-backed Bush-cricket or Elegant Bush-cricket.
 Field-crickets
- Poland
River
plain meadow sheltered by mixed woods, north-east Poland, May.
The rate of stridulation in orthopterans is influenced by temperature.
Afternoon
(756KB) Hot & breezy: fast rate, with high frequency
courtship clicking.
Evening (756KB)
Cooling, slowing.
Nightfall (708KB)
Dropping near freezing point, very slow.
Warm
night at a different site (788KB) North-east Poland, June
Grasshoppers
closer to home
Insects
need warmth to develop, particularly the larger kinds, and Britain
does not have the diversity of orthopterans you find in more southerly
latitudes or the more continental climate further east. Although
there are a number of bush-cricket species fairly widespread in
southern and central England, there aren't any here in Northumberland.
Sadly, we have to make do with just a few grasshopper species. Under
the influence of global warming, the ranges of many species are
expanding further north, so it may not be too many years before
we see the first bush-cricket colony in Northumberland.
Common
Green Grasshopper (1.7MB) Northumberland, July
Possibly the commonest grasshopper species in Britain - certainly
the commonest in Northumberland.
Mottled
Grasshopper (540KB) Pembrokeshire, August
Large
Marsh Grasshopper (596KB) New Forest, August
This beast's song is pretty rudimentary - a series of around half
a dozen ticks.
Sounding
like orthopterans
 Several
other kinds of insect make stridulatory sounds. Probably the best
known are the cicadas. Britain used to have one cicada species,
with a few colonies in the New Forest. It's now thought to be
extinct here, though still common in continental Europe.
Cicada orni (712KB) Dordogne, August
Unidentified (284KB)
probably cicada, Lesvos, May
Most
bird species of the warbler genus Locustella have orthopteran-like
songs.
Grasshopper
Warbler (584KB) Northumberland, May
Individuals can sometimes produce continuous songs of this type
lasting 30 minutes. With bill open wide, head slowly turning left
and right, the whole body shivers with the physical effort of
broadcasting this song.
River Warbler (744KB)
Poland, June.
Some
Questions
I'd
appreciate any help in identifying these bush-crickets:-
Lesvos,
Greece, May 2001.
This monster (its body was over 2 inches long) was found by my
then eight-year-old son in dry Mediterranean scrub. He was really
chuffed to be able to show me something that got me so excited.
Lesvos,
May 2001.
This appears to be a common species on the island.
Cevennes,
France, August 2005. Wart-biter?
Cevennes,
France, August 2005. Great Green Bush-cricket?
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