Environmental Records Centre
for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

Great Green Bush-cricket:

This is our loudest species, so a detector may not be necessary. However, it will often increase range for older orthopterists whose high frequency hearing is naturally diminishing.

The call may be ventriloquial, as on my local cliffs there were occasions at night when the stridulation was audible, but the detector registered nothing when pointed in the direction of the calling. This may need further investigation.

The stridulation heard on the detector can be likened to an old electronic typewriter. The sound comes from rubbing the wings together about 10 times a second.

Great Green Bush-cricket - typical call (1 sec. divisions)

In hot weather, it can be much faster, rubbing the wings together almost 20 times a second, when it sounds similar to that of a cone-head.

Dark Bush-cricket:

The familiar ‘chip’ call of this species is clearly audible without a detector, but with one the range is greatly increased to 15 or more metres.

Dark Bush-cricket - typical call (1 sec. divisions)

The normal sound heard on the detector is similar to a short croak, as it briefly rubs its wings together for about 1/10th second, repeated at 1-2 second intervals.

There is an aggression call when two males meet and challenge each other, which is an extended ‘growl’, lasting a second or two.

Bog Bush-cricket (1 sec. divisions)

Long-winged Cone-head and Short-winged Cone-head:

Both species have a faint call to the human ear, but it is loud with a detector. The calls of these two cone-heads are distinctive from those of other bush-crickets (except perhaps a fast Great Green Bush-cricket on a hot day), but they can be sufficiently similar that confirmation of which cone-head species is present should be made by visual inspection.

Both have a very long call, often continuing for several minutes or more. The Short-winged call is almost invariably interspersed with a brief section as if slowing down for a second or two before speeding right back up again. The Long-winged call generally does not have a slowing down section. However, Long-winged calls have occasionally been heard which include the slowing down part, and Short-winged calls have been heard which persist for 2 or 3 minutes without it. Chris Haes observed a Long-winged male whilst he had a bat detector trained on it, and noted that the slowing down section corresponded with the insect changing its orientation. This may also be the case for the Short-winged Cone-head.

Short-winged Cone-head - with slowdown between division
3 and 5 before speeding up again (½ sec. divisions)

For both the Long-winged and the Short-winged Cone-head, the wing is rubbed together about 20-25 times a second during the slowed down section. In the typical call, the wings are rubbed together 2 or 3 times this speed, possibly up to 60-70 times a second.

Large Cone-head:

I am grateful to Paul Stancliffe for supplying a copy of the recording he made of the first natural UK occurrence of this species. The call is a constant electrical buzz, similar to a mains hum, as the wings are rubbed together just over 80 times a second.

Large Cone-head (¼ sec. divisions)

Speckled bush-cricket:

This call can only be heard with a bat detector. Each insect makes a distinctive tick, repeated every few seconds, as it simply flicks its wings together for about 1/70th second. However, as it is frequent, and the call is heard at up to 15 metres or more, you are likely to hear a series of many clicks from all the insects within range.

Speckled Bush-cricket (1 sec. divisions)