Alton Natural History Society Talk – The Field Cricket in Great Britain
Field Crickets (Gryllus campestris) are one of the rarest and most threatened invertebrates in the UK due to habitat changes. Gilbert White studied and discovered their annual life cycle, recording in his Journal each year the first date in each season when he heard them “sing”. But even he noted in 1791 the “The race of field-crickets, which burrowed in the Short Lythe, & used to make such an agreeable, shrilling noise the summer long, seems to be extinct.”
Mike Edwards is an entomological ecologist with a deep research knowledge of many insects, notably Field and Mole Crickets, Bees, Wasps and Ants. He has been involved in programmes to reintroduce Field Crickets to heathlands on the edge of Surrey and East Hampshire and will be telling us all about them.
The meeting will be held at the Quaker Meeting House, 39 Church St, Alton GU34 2DA. Grid ref SU717396, ///hypocrite.flotation.flocking.
There is a small amount of on-street parking nearby. The nearest car park is less than 5 mins walk away, in Vicarage Hill GU34 1BW (no charge after 6pm).
Tea/coffee and biscuits available for a suggested donation of £1.