Earlier in the summer we got our first decent photograph of the grasshoppers we knew we had, but could never confirm to species level. Thanks to the image below we can now record our hoppers as being the Common Field Grasshopper – Chorthippus brunneus…
We think most people are aware that grasshoppers make their iconic sound by rubbing their back legs against their rough wing cases, a process known as Stridulation. Luckily we managed to sneak up on one of the hoppers and record it making its iconic chirp…
…that’s some mighty fine stridulation fella.
So what are these guys doing in the garden? Primarily they are simply feeding. According to several online sources they like finer grasses. So the grasses typically found in our garden, such as rye grass, cock’s-foot, false-oat grass and yorkshire fog are all a bit coarse for their liking. However this year we have sown, as part of the meadow mix, several species of finer grass so hopefully we are gradually making our garden more hopper friendly.
It is of course important to retain some long areas of grass, which we do for the most part. They feed on grasses and little else, so all in all they should be happy to settle down with us.
DC – 09/09/2022
Wildlife Garden 