Speckled Bush Crickets
28th June 2006, WednesdayThere seems to be quite a lot of Speckled Bush Crickets in our garden at Sedlescombe this year. I have been photographing them at their different stages of their development. They are not yet fully mature, but should be, by late July early August. The females develop a long sabre-kind of growth on the backside, used to deposit eggs. It looks like some of the individuals in the photo maybe starting to develop these. The males gain a prominent, brown stripe on their backs, and their legs turn partially brown. Their mating call is ultrasonic and lasts only a few milliseconds. I hope enough of them survive the next few weeks so that I can photograph the adults.
Dave Monk