Night-singing grasshopper sounds like a cicada - ID?

[crazylilthing]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

...try going to a pet shop that specialises in reptiles and have a listen to their crickets

Good idea, but they are always completely silent whenever I've been into a pet shop, and I can't get in at night!

It's a shame I can't capture the sound, because it sure does sound like a Cicada, and I have lived in places with Cicadas for 2 years.

What if that were possible - for a Cicada to have reached London and survived? Is it that implausible?

[Acutipuerilis]

It certainly could be possible. After all, we've got a native species, but it's extremely rare, and resrticted to the New Forest (assuming it's not yet extinct). That species is very quiet, though, so it's not your beastie.

Have you been to talk to the neighbours? They might just let you search for it at night, and if you can only get a photo then the mystery is solved. Do they have any large trees, or is it all low plants?

[crazylilthing]

Originally Posted by Acutipuerilis

Have you been to talk to the neighbours? They might just let you search for it at night, and if you can only get a photo then the mystery is solved. Do they have any large trees, or is it all low plants?

Unfortunately, I don't know the neighbours two doors down. They're quite new here. However I can see from one of our windows that their garden is mainly laid to lawn which is kept largely unmown for most of the time. There is overhanging vegetation, such as a large wisteria and a few other bits and pieces.

Could it be:

ROESEL'S BUSH CRICKET Metrioptera roeselii , which is well-established on Walthamstow marshes, for example?

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by crazylilthing

Unfortunately, I don't know the neighbours two doors down. They're quite new here. However I can see from one of our windows that their garden is mainly laid to lawn which is kept largely unmown for most of the time. There is overhanging vegetation, such as a large wisteria and a few other bits and pieces.

Could it be:

ROESEL'S BUSH CRICKET Metrioptera roeselii , which is well-established on Walthamstow marshes, for example?

Yes it could be - they sound a bit like a freewheeling bicycle - the warmer it is the faster the bike! And it is more or less constant once it warms up

[captaincarot]

reptile food crickets

both species, the black field cricket and brown house cricket sound alike.
go listen to an old 50's cowboy film. that chirping in the background at night is what they sound like.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Yes it could be - they sound a bit like a freewheeling bicycle - the warmer it is the faster the bike! And it is more or less constant once it warms up

Roesel's tends to stridulate during the day rather than night. This is very common in the London area where there is long rough grassland.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Roesel's tends to stridulate during the day rather than night. This is very common in the London area where there is long rough grassland.

I seem to hear them calling quite a bit at night when out on bat survey it's a slower sound but they're there - often silent by end of survey it's true but I wonder if the street lights and heat island effect would keep them going at night ......

[SueFromKent]

Hi,

I live in Ramsgate, Kent and have exactly the same experience. It is singing away when I walk the dog last thing at night - around midnight. Have heard it for about a week, always in the same place - appears to be coming from under a neighbours car, on a concrete drive !!

At first I thougt it was some kind of alarm as it can be heard quite a distance away, but when you go near the sound changes and sometimes stops when the security light goes on. If they have seen e peering under the car the neighbours must think I'm trying to steal it or something !!!

Sue