Native Crickets & Grasshoppers.

Suzi, although Oxfordshire's nice enough, i envy you living in such a beautiful part of the country as Devon. I haven't visited there for years now, but i recall whenever i did i absolutely adored it, & i've got very fond memories of it. Anyway, i don't know if your son's ever told you, or not, but in Devon you're lucky enough to have at least 20 species of orthopterans made up out of grasshoppers, ground-hoppers & crickets! Also an orthopteran, you've even got naturalised Prickly Stick-insects in a few South Devon localities! Plus!, you're close to the top two outstanding UK orthoptera sites, those being The Dorset Heathlands & The New Foreast.    

Gemma, some orthopterans are indeed meant to be good indicators of good, rich fauna & flora habitats, just as, ironically, the spread northwards of some orthopterans - especially winged ones - is an indicator of global warming. Mind you, global warming won't bother the likes of Vivip' lizards for a while yet because as you said, they love munchin' through grasshoppers & crickets wherever they land! And yes, i couldn't stress enough that the book i've previously mentioned titled, Grasshoppers & allied Insects of Great Britain & Ireland, (also covers the Channel Islands) is definately the book to go for. Key it in & see what others say, but i promise that if you then order a copy, you won't regret it for a second! It's regarded as practically the definitive bible for our orthopteroid insects. Paperback version (published 1990) costs about ú20 & its 254 pages of text, drawings, colour plates, habitat photo's & distribution maps is worth every single penny!,..certainly one of the best value for money books i've ever bought.   

Peter, around now is peak activity time for our hopping orthopterans & so i'm well chuffed to hear you're getting out there & getting well stuck in to identifying & enjoying everything about them. Hopefully you'll report anything you suspect previously unknown of at a location to your county wildlife recording scheme officer, &/or the Biological Records Centre, Cambs. I think reporting your Roesel's Bush-Cricket sighting might prove worthwhile as that's one species that's still rapidly spreading its distribution. It's fairly loud, electrical discharge sounding buzz has been turning up all over the place here in north Oxfordshire where i am!, which i'm happy with as it's one of my favourites. 

Excellent stuff!, darrentshaw. Do report all these to your countys wildlife species recording scheme, won't you? The continued spread rate of Roesel's (often somehow in tandem with Long-Winged Coneheads) is amazing! Over the last few days i've been recording no end of sites along the edges of Banbury where Roesel's & L-W Coneheads (mainly none macropterous forms seen) have moved in. I've already sent all those records in to the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre where i'll likely be name credited with those finds (my lifes only chance of claims to fame!). Those other crickets would've most likely been Dark B-C's by the way (they chirp at night) as Greys are almost strictly coastal. And as Oak's are largely just tree living (& silent to us) it wouldn't mean there's none about just because you've not spotted any this year. They're elusive alright, but they're also actually rather common. I know for a fact they've always been, & still are, here in Banbury but annoyingly i've never seen ONE here myself! You've very likely also got Speckled B-C's (silent to hear, unless within inches, or using a bat detector) about in your neck of the woods, another common but often fairly hard to spot species. I myself tend to camcord' more often than photo' stuff.

sorry about the pic size its come out abit on the massive size

i survey bats, the racket from these chaps is unbelieveable sometimes

you can also listen to rats and mice on them

Brother to his girlfriend "Just hold the cricket please while I take a picture of it." - Yep it bit her!

A great picture.