Orthoptera on flickr

Keels:
 

Chorthippus albomarginatus	Chorthippus  parallelus	Chorthippus brunneus	Chorthippus brunneus	Omocestus viridulus

Grasshopper species show substantial variations in colour form and in size and are best identified by a combination of song and the markings on the pronotum (the saddle shaped protective casing to the thorax). The side keels of the pronotum vary from being
strongly inflexed (as in Mottled Grasshopper) to almost parallel (as in Meadow and Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers).
Grasshoppers of Norfolk (Link)

2022

24 August 2022
I was glad to see Clouded Yellows on Mill Hill, but I stopped chasing them when a Large Conehead Cricket, Ruspolia nitidula, parachuted down in front of me to pose for photographs. It is a scarce vagrant from southern Europe.

2021
 

28 June  2021

Great Green Bush Cricket, Tettigonia viridissima, on the southern top part of Mill Hill

2020
 

14 May 2020
A very small grasshopper nymph was spotted amongst the short vegetation on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.
 

2019
 
 

1 August 2019 Grasshoppers were very common on the lower slopes of Mill Hill. The two species seem almost identical but I think the one on the left is the Common Green Grasshopper, Omocestus viridulus, and the one on the right is the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.

22 June 2019 A cricket was spotted amongst the long grasses and nettles on Adur Recreation Ground.  At first it was dismissed as just one of the four species of grasshopper found in Shoreham, until the photograph of the long antennae revealed it to be a cricket, the previously unrecorded (in Shoreham*) Roesel's Bush-cricket, Metrioptera roeselii. The long grass area was deliberately left uncut for nature by Adur Council.  iRecord (* nearest location was Anchor Bottom)

2 May 2019 The small green grasshopper nymphs (illustrated left) frequently seen on the lower slopes of Mill Hill were probably the Common Green Grasshopper, Omocestus viridulus.

23 April 2019
Very small bright green grasshopper nymphs were seen amongst the dense green undergrowth on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.
Previous Report
 
 

2018
 

26 July 2018

2017

 

5 July 2017 A rustle in the dense but very short vegetation on the lower slopes of Mill Hill was recognised with a clear view of a Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara, which may have been after a Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.

19 June 2017 On the lower slopes of Mill Hill the grasshoppers were stridulating.  Common Green Grasshopper, Omocestus viridulus.

22 August 2016

Top Row: Mill Hill Cutting (SW)   Field Grasshopper
Bottom: Old Shoreham, towpath by the river Lesser Marsh Grasshopper

8 August 2016

These Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers, Chorthippus albomarginatus. were hopping in around the Sea Purlsane on the river edge at Old Shoreham.
 

14 July 2016 On the lower slopes of Mill Hill I recorded only my second Common Green Grasshopper, Omocestus viridulus.  Most sightings on Mill Hill seem to be the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.

12 July 2016
Thousands of small grasshoppers were easily disturbed in the verges of the Steyning Line Cyclepath (from Old Shoreham to just north of the Erringham Gap). Most of then were Meadow Grasshoppers, Chorthippus parallelus, and a few Dark Bush Crickets were also seen.
 

6 July 2016 Mill Hill     Grasshoppers on Mill Hill Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus, at least one Common Green Grasshopper, Omocestus viridulus.  The Dark Bush Cricket was also present. This is my first record of the second one for Mill Hill. ID by Ralph Hobbs on  UK Orthroptera facebook

2015
 
 

13 September 2015 Field near Miller's Stream, Steyning Road, Old Shoreham. Nymph of a species of bush cricket called a Short-winged Conehead, Conocephalus dorsalis.

27 August 2015 Amongst the Sea Purslane on the edge of the River Adur north of the Tollbridge, Old Shoreham. Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus.

15 August 2015 Steyning downland Roesel's Bush-cricket, Metrioptera roeselii The Dark Bush Cricket was also seen.

1 August 2015 Grasshopper, Mill Hill Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus

31 July 2015

Three Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis, were spotted around Shoreham Fort but I was more pleased to discover a Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus.

22 July 2014
A Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera,was spotted amongst the dense meadow verge of the cyclepath south of the Cement Works.

5 July 2014

	Field Grasshopper ???	Field Grasshopper

15 October 2013
A Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera,was spotted on the verges of the Waterworks Road, Old Shoreham. One Meadow Brown Butterfly was disturbed into flight on the lower slopes of Mill Hill by the frequent grasshoppers. One was identified as a Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.
 

2 October 2013 On Mill Hill Road, north of the bridge, I spied a Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera, by the hedge.

20 September 2013
After the rain and the near Gale, the day was fine, overcast with intermittent sunshine. The lower slopes of Mill Hill were cast in shade as the clouds blocked out the rays of sun. There no butterflies at all for nearly five minutes, just hundreds of Field Grasshoppers, Chorthippus brunneus, jumping everywhere I stood and scores of Crane-flies over the short vegetation.

September 2013
A Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima, landed on my computer keyboard indoors. I do not know how it arrived although the small window was open. It was not rescued or photographed. It hopped out of the way and disappeared.
 

9 August 2012
I discovered a Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima, on a Kidney Vetch on the Buckingham Cutting (south) but it disappeared when I changed the lens for a photograph. There was another probable brown juvenile cricket on a budding Carline Thistle.

27 May 2012
With the fine weather continuing, Mill Hill was bathed in sunlight under an almost clear blue sky. Grasshoppers were heard stridulating for the first time this year on the lower slopes.

15 May 2011
Small grasshoppers were frequently seen on the lower slopes of Mill Hill and they were heard stridulating.

29 April 2011
On Mill Hill, the first very small green-coloured grasshoppers were hopping around amongst the herbs a especially at the southern end of the lower slopes.
 

9 September 2010 The 6.9 metre equinoctial spring tide at 12:35 pm lapped against the riverbank at Old Shoreham which had the result of compelling the three species of grasshoppers that normally occupy the high tide strandline and Orache zone into a thin line of vegetation between the River Adur and the cyclepath and hundreds of them could easily be disturbed. Most were Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, followed by a few Meadow Grasshoppers, Chorthippus parallelus. Photograph: This is an adult of a species of bush cricket called a Short-winged Conehead, Conocephalus dorsalis. The long antennae equals bush cricket.

11 July 2010
Juvenile Meadow Grasshoppers, Chorthippus parallelus, were seen in their hundreds on Mill Hill.

1 July 2010
A juvenile Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, hopped amongst amongst the late flowering patch of Starry Clover, Trifolium stellatum, near the Old Fort. There were scores of these grasshoppers in the long grass around the Old Fort.

30 May 2010
The first grasshoppers of the year were heard and then seen on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.

7 May 2009
The first Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus, of the year was spotted on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.

8 October 2008 I observed a late grasshopper on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.  The pale marking is not a reliable character on its own as it can also be present on Common Green, Field, Stripe-winged, and other species in the same three genera as these three.

24 July 2008
Hundreds of grasshoppers were stridulating in the Sea Purslane on the eastern estuarine bank of the River Adur opposite Cuckoo's Corner. Provisional identification was to the species called the Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus. I have changed my mind about this one, and I think it is the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.

25 August 2007 A Speckled Bush Cricket was seen in the shade on the Slonk Hill Cutting south.

12 June 2007 On the Downs Link I spotted this grasshopper in the meadow (as the verge widens) south of the Cement Works.  It looks like the the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus. (not confirmed)

29 April 2007
My first juvenile (=nymph) grasshopper of the year was also spotted amongst the herbs on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.
 

26 September 2006
There were still a few Field Grasshoppers, Chorthippus brunneus, on Mill Hill.

29 August 2006
A grasshopper jumped rather than flew at the window of the Cancer Relief Charity Shop in East Street, Shoreham. I captured it and put it in my tool box and released it in my front garden later in the afternoon.
 

This is a male of Chorthippus brunneus.  It has angled keels on the pronotum, brown knees of the hind legs, a red abdomen and typical wings with the (difficult to see) lobe on the underside.  It is a very good flyer and you can find it regularly within cities and towns.
ID by Hendrik Devriese (Belgium)
Checklist of UK Recorded Acrididae

11 July 2006
A Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima, landed on my bicycle parked underneath an Elderberry Bush on Mill Hill. On Mill Hill, the grasshoppers were stridulating noisily, probably both of the common two species, but only a Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, was seen and identified.
 

29 June 2006 Hundreds of Chorthippus grasshoppers, were very likely, jumping to 60 cm perhaps more on Sea Beet, grasses and other vegetation above the high tide mark on the east side of the River Adur estuary opposite Shoreham Airport were mostly Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers, Chorthippus albomarginatus. NB: I am having doubts about the ID (September 2013)

24 June 2006
Hundreds of Chorthippus grasshoppers, very lively and these were mostly tiny to small nymphs over the grasses and stonecrops on the shingle to the west of the Old Fort on Shoreham Beach. They jumped on to the Silver Ragwort and Sea Kale leaves as well. They did not stridulate and could not be heard. These were almost certainly Common Field Grasshoppers, Chorthippus brunneus.

15 & 23 June 2006
Grasshoppers were stridulating and a Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, was identified on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.
 

11 June 2006 A Grasshopper was seen for the first time this year on the Pixie Path and later heard in one patch on the lower slopes of Mill Hill. This was almost certainly the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.

I arrived home in Corbyn Crescent, Shoreham, just before dusk to find a Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima, on my front door, literally, (TQ 224 053).

14 September 2005
Small grasshoppers were active in the short grass just north of the Reservoir on Mill Hill and these looked like the same ones that were found on the lower slopes. They were very active so the photograph on the right is rather poor, but the best I could manage.
I thought these could be the Common Green Grasshopper, Omocestus viridulus, but research seems to indicate small Meadow Grasshoppers, Chorthippus parallelus.

12 September 2005
Small Meadow Grasshoppers, Chorthippus parallelus, were still hopping around on Mill Hill south of the Reservoir. The identity of these smaller than usual grasshoppers is still under enquiry for confirmation and a poor photograph is included on the right.

2 September 2005
Common Field Grasshoppers, Chorthippus brunneus and Dark Bush Crickets, Pholidoptera griseoaptera, were identified from the harbour grass bank opposite Shoreham Harbour Power Station.

1 September 2005
A further look at the grasshoppers on the margin of vegetation above the high tide mark on the east side of the River Adur were definitely two species, the Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus, and the Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus.
 

The wing is a very distinctive green on this species which is the Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus.	The Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus, would usually jump when disturbed but at least one turned its hop into a flight with whirring wings.	In this green grasshopper, the distinguishing mark of the female Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus, is the white line on the leading edge of the wing.

Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, on the riverbank.	The Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus, is very well camouflaged.	The Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus, viewed from the side.

28 August 2005 Common Field Grasshoppers were falling into the webs of the Garden Orb Spiders on Slonk Hill. Adur Spiders

27 August 2005 A Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera, estimated at 25 mm long (perhaps longer?). It was larger than any grasshopper I have ever seen.  This was seen by Miller's Stream, at the new southern entrance by the Steyning road.

26 August 2005 This small grasshopper was discovered (probably with others of the same and different species) on the lower slopes of Mill Hill. This is almost certainly the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus

25 August 2005
After the rain I ventured out as the spring tide nearly lapped against the banks of the Adur estuary.
 

Just south of the Toll Bridge there was still a margin of vegetation above the high tide mark on the east side of the river, with Orache and other wild grasses and plants and this area hosted dozens of active grasshoppers that appeared to jump at least of metre. They looked slightly different from the two commonly found on the downs meadows and wastelands on the edge of  town. Some, if not all, of them are the Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus. There could be more than one species present.

Definitely Chorthippus albomarginatus. The long wings and white stripe on the leading edge indicates a female. The male doesn't have the white stripe and is very similar to Chorthippus parallelus, except for its song which is very different.

18 August 2005
 

The first Wasp Spider seen this year was a smallish one that had captured a Meadow Grasshopper on the Slonk Hill Cutting and had rolled it up in its webbing.
Adur Spiders
 
 

9 August 2005 A juvenile grasshopper from a south Lancing garden. Its length of jump rather suggests a Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus.

7 August 2005
A cacophony of stridulating green grasshoppers came from the long grass of Frampton's Field (horse fields next to the Pixie Path).

A Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, was observed making a jump of two metres on the short sward exposed slopes on Mill Hill north of the Reservoir. The long grass usually hosts the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.

4 August 2005
A Long Winged Conehead, Conocephalus discolor,(a cricket) was recorded on camera in the Lancing Ring meadows in the late afternoon when the butterflies have gone to rest.
Link to Image

3 August 2005
A brief visit to Malthouse Meadow, Sompting, revealed that the ubiquitous grasshoppers were present but made little noise. A dark shape on a leaf drew me to look closer to find a Dark Bush Cricket.

25 July 2005
 

One of the Meadow Grasshoppers, Chorthippus parallelus, on the Slonk Hill Cutting southern bank, sported a fine purple livery. I inadvertently disturbed it mating with a green coloured partner.

22 July 2005
 

Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus Nymph: the wings have not grown yet At Slonk Hill south (eastern bank = Ringlet area).	Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus  Amongst the long grass at Slonk Hill south (next to the path).

17 July 2005 MEADOW GRASSHOPPER  Chorthippus parallelus  Amongst the long grass at Slonk Hill south (eastern bank = Ringlet area).

18 June 2005
On the lower slopes of Mill Hill, thousands of grasshoppers were clicking away in the grass.

7 June 2005
On the lower slopes of Mill Hill, the first grasshopper of the year was heard amongst the Tor Grass.
 
 

More Images
 
 

17 September 2003 This insect was the Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima, found in my front garden in Corbyn Crescent, Shoreham (TQ 224 053).

The cricket hopped very slowly along the concrete path when poked, but mostly it crawled slowly around. It is an inhabitant of trees and bushes rather than the long grass, and may appreciate the Privet hedge and Brambles in my front patch.
UK Grasshoppers & Crickets (Yahoo Group)
 
 

23 July 2003 Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus. At Slonk Hill south (eastern bank = Ringlet area).

19 June 2003
The field next to the stream (TQ 209 068) to the west of the Waterworks (Old Shoreham) was like a jungle with thistles and nettles.

Several young (at least three) Dark Bush Crickets, Pholidoptera griseoaptera,were slow to hide in the thick vegetation.

UK Grasshoppers & Crickets (Yahoo Group)

How Grasshoppers jump

Grasshoppers and Crickets of Lancing (by Ray Hamblett)

Checklist of UK Recorded Acrididae
 

Orthopteroids 3 - Grasshoppers (by David Element)
Orthoptera of Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly
European Grasshoppers
Species Index

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