Great Green Bush-cricket

I came across this beast a couple of weeks ago, whilst hunting fruitlessly for Adonis Blues on the grassy slopes above Radnage village. I was surprised to bump into a friend whom I had not seen for some time, also searching for butterflies. Confidently claiming that he could hear a Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima singing above the hum of Meadow and Field Grasshoppers he set about tracking one down and soon found one clinging to a tangle of grass stems. Grudgingly, I had to admit to being rather impressed! It was a good lesson in the importance of learning the songs of Grasshoppers and Crickets if you want to find and identify them. Frustratingly, it took me ages to tune in to the loud, high pitched song, especially as high above us two Red Kites were screaming furiously as they harried and chased a Common Buzzard. At about 5 centimetres long the Great Green Bush-cricket is Britain's largest insect and is found sporadically throughout the south on rough grassland, overgrown scrub and hedgerows. The stridulation (song) of the this vivid green cricket sounds like a sewing machine or maybe a bicycle free-wheeling downhill and can be heard up to 50 metres away, but is ventriloquial, making the insect frustratingly difficult to track down. The Great Green Bush-cricket is a poor flier and relies on excellent camouflage and an impressive jump of up to a metre to escape danger. It also has a fierce bite and is quite capable of drawing blood!

Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima - Radnage ( 01/08/2011)

Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima - Radnage ( 01/08/2011)

Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima - Radnage ( 01/08/2011)

Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima - Radnage ( 01/08/2011)

Crab Spider

The Crab Spider Misumena vatia will sit on a flower for days, even weeks, patiently waiting for insects, often flies and bees, to land close by. It will then pounce, and gripping it's prey with long crab-like front legs will paralyse the unfortunate victim with a venomous bite. Mature females have the ability to vary their colour to match their background, varying between yellow, white or tints of green and so can be easily overlooked despite being 10mm in size. The male is only half the size and browner in colouration and spends much of its time moving rapidly from flower to flower searching for females to mate with. It would appear that the yellow female below, photographed on the white flower of Hogweed Heracleum spondylium has not got to grips with the concept of camouflage, but in fact it it takes about 6 days to change colour from yellow to white and much longer in reverse. Mind you the common sense of the fly could be called into question!

Crab Spider Misumena vatia on Hogweed Heracleum spondylium (09/07/2008)

The Crab Spider Misumena vatia is found in Southern Britain and Wales but has a Holartic distribution and in North America is known as the Goldenrod Crab Spider due to it's habit of spending long periods of time on the yellow flowers of Goldenrod Solidago sp.

The photograph was taken whilst I was searching for Purple Emperors and White Admirals at Finemere Woods near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire on a very hot and sunny day in July 2008.

Long-winged Conehead

This Bush Cricket was photographed on the 27th of July at Brush Hill near Monks Risborough. Although I initially identified it as a Long-winged Conehead Conocephalus discolor my field guide gave its distribution in the UK as restricted to the South Coast. I have since found out that these interesting crickets, which were first discovered on mainland England in 1945, have spread rapidly and are now widespread across Southern Britain and into Wales. Although in Europe they are found in a variety of habitats including marshes and reedbeds, in England they prefer drier rough grassland. This individual is a female, identified by the virtually straight ovipositor almost as long as the body and is also an extra long winged form with wings extending to the end of the ovipositor. Short-winged Conehead Conocephalus dorsalis, which is found in reedbeds, bogs and damp grassland is identified by its very short wings and a sharply curved ovipositor. There is also a long-winged or macropterous form burri, sometimes found in hot summers, which could cause confusion with Long-winged Conehead.

Female Long-winged Conehead Conocephalus discolor