Grasshoppers & Crickets in Cumbria
Dark bush-cricket
There are 10 native British species of grasshoppers and bush-crickets present in
Cumbria. The introduced House Cricket has also been established in heated buildings
at a few scattered localities.
Grasshoppers are familiar to all. They have relatively short antennae and are mainly
found in grassland and heathland habitats. Some southern species are spreading north
in response to climate warming and may be expected to colonise Cumbria in the future.
The Slender Groundhopper is one species that has recently spreadnorth into south
Cumbria.
Bush-crickets are large, long-legged insects with very long antennae and a characteristic
egg-laying tube (ovipositor) projecting from the tip of the female's abdomen. Bush-crickets
live in scrub and woodland edge situations. Several species occur in isolated northern
populations in the mildest localities in Cumbria. These are thought to be relict
populations of a once wider distribution when the climate was warmer thousands of
years ago.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the following people for sending in their grasshopper records:
Atkins, Mr R.S., Bunn, D., Clarke, Mr D.J., Clementson, Mr
M., Carlisle Nat.Hist.Soc., Collins, Mr G.A., Dale, Mr A., Dubberley, Mr J., English
Nature, Fereday, Mr B., Forest Enterprise, Fowles, Mr A., Garland, Mr S.P., Gorley,
M, Grayson, Mr W., Hawkins, Mr R.D., Hayhow, S., Hewitt, Mr S.M., Iveson, Miss D.A.,
Key, Dr R.S., Kydd, Mr W., Little, Mr R., Lurz, Mr P., Marrs, Mr B., Marshall, Mr
A., Mawby, Mr F.J., Mills, A., Moran, Mr S.A., Morris, R.K.M., Naylor, Mr G.R.,
Newton, Dr J., Newton, J.M., Norman, Mr G.M., Read, Mr R.W.J., Reid, T., Roberts,
Mr F.J., Robertson, Mr L.R., Robinson, Mrs A., Robinson, Mr C., Spencer, Mrs H.,
Still, Dr L., Widgery, Mr J.P., Walker, Mrs W., Walker, Mr D.
