The sound of grasshoppers and crickets is evocative of the height of summer. They are among our largest and most abundant insects and play a crucial role in the food web. This talk will give an introduction to the species of Britain and Ireland, covering identification of the commonest species by sight and sound, and a look at their biology and ecology. We will finish with a look at the Grasshopper Recording Scheme, and how your records help research and conservation – documenting declines, increases and new arrivals, and studying the underlying causes.

Speaker: Björn Beckmann is an ecologist at the Biological Records Centre (BRC), and has been co-running the Grasshopper Recording Scheme since 2009. For his PhD he analysed the scheme’s data, and with colleagues at BRC he created the “iRecord Grasshoppers” app and the scheme website. From 2013 to 2020, he organised the Royal Entomological Society’s annual day of talks on grasshopper research (Orthoptera SIG).