Species of the Month

The adult speckled bush-cricket is between 10 and 20 mm long with a bright green body which is covered in tiny black spots which is where it gets its name. The long thin antennae are twice as long as the body and, if you can see them, the lower legs and feet are brown. 

The female has a long, upturned curved egg laying tube (ovipositor) on the rear end which has a saw edge to help penetrate stems and bark.  

The young crickets (nymphs) are smaller and have more pronounced speckles and no stripe.  

The speckled bush cricket is omnivorous, feeding on flowers and leaves as well as other insects. 

Speckled bush-crickets emerge as nymphs in May and moult six times during the summer, so by August they have developed into the adult. During the night males call to attract the females by rubbing their ‘wings’ together to create a ‘song’. The males can be very aggressive and defend their territory against intruders. The female will respond with a quieter song to lead the male to her. After mating the female lays her eggs in the bark of a tree or plant stem where they overwinter.  

• The speckled bush cricket cannot fly. It uses its powerful back legs to jump.
• The weak song of the male is a high pitched ‘chirp’ which hard to hear, but you might pick it up using a bat detector!
• There are a few differences between crickets and grasshoppers. Crickets have much longer legs but relatively shorter fatter bodies. Crickets have very long antennae which are longer than their bodies. Crickets can jump and some can fly but prefer to walk. Crickets are more nocturnal and tend to be brighter in colour than grasshoppers. Another difference is in the way they stridulate (produce the song). While crickets rub their back legs together, grasshoppers rub their long hind legs against their wings.  

The adults are present from late July until November in scrub, hedgerows, bushes and tall grasses along woodland edges and particularly on bramble, but it can also be found in gardens. Look carefully as this beautifully camouflaged and secretive cricket is most active at dusk. They are common in southern and central England and South Wales.  

You can encourage speckled bush-crickets into your garden by providing them with habitat such as areas of long grass or bramble, bushes and trees. Growing native flowers provides a source of food for them and other wildlife. Please don’t be tempted to use chemicals in the garden.  

Our gardens are a vital resource for wildlife, providing corridors of green space between open countryside, allowing species to move about. In fact, the UK's gardens provide more space for nature than all the National Nature Reserves put together. So, why not try planting native plants and trees to entice birds, mammals and invertebrates into your backyard? To find out more about encouraging wildlife into your garden, visit our Wild About Gardens website: a joint initiative with the RHS with plenty of facts and tips to get you started.