Where have all the Grassoppers gone?

[Diabolical Artificer]

Over the last few years I haven't heard a grasshopper and thought that, like a lot of insects they have disappeared due to farming practices and the general parlous state of our countryside, for instance, though I live in rural Lincolnshire there are no wild flowers to speak of, every thing is a uniform nitrate green.

Anyroad, I mentioned this to my daughter Molly, who generally couldn't give a monkeys when I waffle on about trees, flowers and an all that nature stuff, she's far more interested in the state of her hair, it requiring at least an hour to primp and must be washed every five minutes to keep it pristine. I digress, grasshoppers..... Out for a walk, waffled on about the lack of grasshoppers, 10 mins later she said "can't you hear that?" and, "there's another one" So it appears grasshoppers are still around, but I can't hear them, which is very sad.

Thinking about this, I can hear up to about 15khz, I would have thought a grasshoppers zizz would be much lower, i mean I can't see a grasshopper moving his legs more than 15,000 times a second, more like 500hz or less. looked online, couldn't find a frequency given.

Any ideas? Andy.

[Refugee]

About 12 years ago I lived down south and there was a wilded over land fill site. The grass hoppers used to make a right racket when they were in season.
I would guess that the birds have had them all round here though.
I spotted a hornet about 3 or 4 weeks ago and now many more wasps that I have seen for quite a few years.

[BusyBee]

I have not heard a grasshopper either, but not really thought about them. There are wild flowers around here (still Lincolnshire - the Snowdrops were brilliant earlier in the year) and there are lots of different types of butterflies around (this may be due to me looking more closely to find different ones lol). My greenhouse seems to be filled with Hoverflies this year, and I have seen a few different species of Hornet / wasp. Bumble bees, as well as Honey seem to be doing well, but my garden is like a wildlife sanctury as I grow lots of different things. Interestingly less Ladybirds than usual. I found this site: http://joonassiren.fi/hear-grasshoppers-sing/

Tracy

[Amie]

There is a piece of meadow and woodland behind where we live now that our next door neighbour bought some time ago to (try) to block development, we have lots of wildlife, including grasshoppers (crickets?), Dragon flies, butterflies, birds and rabbits, (a bit of a nuisance but we hardly ever have to cut the lawn). The guy has planted birch, gorse and broom on some of the land, the rest is cut for hay once a year.

It's a great place to live, but now the local authority has threatened to compulsorily purchase the area for development. He says that it will be "over his dead body". He is frequently pestered by developers with steadily increasing offers of money. One organization were so confident he says, that they've even paid for the initial planning permission.

I hope his 'price' isn't ever offered.

I really hope not.

Amie

[Diabolical Artificer]

"I would guess that the birds have had them all round here though." Unless your ears are dicky like mine mate, your older than me yes?

We get cowslips, red/white clover, meadowsweet, silver weed, plantain and a few others Tracy on the verges round about, however the local laird (thinks he is) and his missus "I've got a new sit on mower and I'm gonna use it" like to see the place "tidy", so any umbilifers like cow parsley, hogweed, moon carrot etc get strimmed or otherwise tidied up. Yep, seen lots of butterflies around this year, but then I too try and leave a lot of my garden wild with a big crop of nettles at the bottom of the garden. Ladybirds are having a basd time what with the Harliquin ladybird killing them off and interbreeding, bummer. Looked at that site, interesting, it says grasshopper song is at 12-20khz, really!? that would explain things. He also says "I find it poetic that there are sounds that are connected to the process of aging. The disappearance is somehow a reminder of our limited, transient existence." Poetic? My knees creek, my back aches and I keep forgetting who/what things are, so am reminded daily of my transient existence and my impending death, I find this neither poetic or cosmic, daft b*gger.

A nice bit of countryside Amelia is good for the soul, well done your next door neighbour. If yon men in suits try to get the land for "development" there are still enough activists around to cause them grief, my days of sleeping in trees and holes in the ground are long gone, but I'm up for sabotage and protest, and from what I can gather there are loads of young uns who'd help out. Anyroad, let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Andy.

[ppppenguin]

A friend who lives in the outer reaches of NE London is not amused about a proposed development behind his house. His house and his neighbours all back on to open space owned by Redbridge Council. They are going to build a 60 unit "container farm" within 20 yards of my friend's back fence. The council are the owners, developers and planning authority. Legal appeals have got nowhere.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49412835

[Terry]

Redbridge (expletive deleted) Council! (From a former Redbridge resident)

When the Greater London Council was disbanded, the green belt that had been under its guardianship was split up and passed to the individual London boroughs. Redbridge are strapped for cash and determined to have as much as possible declassified and sell it off for millions. This was their last (failed) attempt.

A previous battle, which dragged on for years through numerous legal battles was to declassify a site "because it was on the 'wrong side' of the railway" which had been developed over several decades as a first class sports centre with playing fields, etc. A much loved and well used facility with very high quality pitches which take many years of loving care to reach perfection. They wanted to sell it off for housing and there would also have been a school there. The site is about 300m from a very busy roundabout at the top of the local High Street which already bears the brunt of traffic from three existing schools!

[Amie]

A nice bit of countryside  Amelia is good for the soul, well done your next door neighbour. If yon men in suits try to get the land for "development" there are still enough activists around to cause them grief, my days of sleeping in trees and holes in the ground are long gone, but I'm up for sabotage and protest, and from what I can gather there are loads of young uns who'd help out. Anyroad, let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Andy.

Hi Andy.

The subject is quiet at the moment because the neighbour who owns the land filmed a local government official speaking with him at his front door, the neighbour said that the gentleman had a conflict of interest, and used the film clip to pursuade them not to contact him any more.

That's as near the 'no politics' rule as i care to get.

Amie

[Refugee]

I am pretty sure I would be able to hear grass hoppers if there were any.
I usually grow my own veg and get out into the country more in the winter. In the summer the remains of the coal mines get too hot for grass so no grass hoppers there and they are not interested in the birch scrub that naturally takes over.
Most of the new houses are being built on the old pit head so no green field site has been lost.
The fields are either farmed or grazed so there is not a great deal of tall grass for grass hoppers.
There is a meadow that has lots of cowslip that is managed by a heritage center that had cowslips on it and a plot of woodland with bluebells every spring.
I am pretty sure that grass hoppers produce bursts of shore pulses in the same way as we used to do with a bit of card clipped to the forks of push bikes to make them sound like "motorbikes".

[Terry]

That's as near the 'no politics' rule as i care to get.

In my defence, the 'colour' of Redbridge Council changed while the sports ground saga was in progress but it made no difference at all so it wasn't so much a matter of politics as money grubbing (and theft of a public asset).

And, to keep this on topic, if the council had been successful, it would have definitely been the end for the grasshoppers!