Pink Grasshopper Alert!

Fri 29th Jun, 2012

This exotically-coloured grasshopper nymph was found at Beswick, near Driffield, by Richard Baines on a survey he was conducting for YCN’s parent company Wold Ecology Ltd. and is a freshly emerged Field Grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus.

The very similar Meadow Grasshopper adults can be green, brown or purple in colour. Field Grasshoppers are even more variable, but this pink form, found in both species and due to a genetic variation, is quite rare. It is most often found in juveniles, but some adult females retain the pink colouration.

The song of the Field Grasshopper, produced by rubbing special 'pegs' on the hindlegs against the forewings, is a familiar one, sounding like the purr of a sewing machine which increases in volume and lasts up to a few seconds. The Meadow Grasshopper song has been described as like the short time signal pips on the radio, although at a lower pitch. The ‘ears’ of a grasshopper are on the sides of its body.

The adults of both species are active in sunny grasslands between June and October. Field Grasshoppers are quite widespread but generally prefer dry, sparse grassland. Meadow Grasshoppers are even more widespread and more tolerant of damper conditions.