One of my lights from the recent Burgh Castle night attracted this House Cricket. Has anyone encountered them before? I believe they are available from pet shops as live food for exotic pets but have also been established in this country for centuries. There are known colonies in Norfolk as close to Burgh Castle as Strumpshaw and Acle at rubbish dumps where they are more likely to be encountered than in housing in the modern age.
For the familiar it is the same length as a Long Winged Cone-head but much fatter and scuttles along rather than jumps. I plan to revisit the site to try and establish if there is a colony or if it is a stray in the next few days when the weather settles again. With a view shared with Brian that they might breed among the walls of the ruined Roman Fort. I have certainly never seen one before, at least unless, in a vivarium, pet shop or zoo.
The only ‘wild’ one I’ve seen Keith was many years ago on the moth group’s first ever visit to Orfordness, when we found one in the accommodation block there. Off there tonight so may find another!
Hi Keith,
I’ve come across quite a number of House Crickets over the years, but never to light. As you say they are most frequently encountered in heated buildings, although less commonly since the mid 20th century. I hear them chirping every now and then here in Ipswich, principally in the vicinity of the docks and I know Stuart Read encounters them regularly at the Purina pet food factory in Sudbury. Outdoors they require the constant heat from rubbish dumps and sewage farms to thrive but will survive away from these sites in warm summers. I found a colony in a bean field adjacent to the refuse site in Bramford some years ago. They were easy to hear chirping but disappeared in to cracks in the sun baked soil as soon as I got near. I suspect if you revisit on a sunny day you will at least hear them if they are present in any number. I’d be interested to hear how you get on.
On the moth front, nothing spectacular to report from my garden trap. On the migrant front, getting quite a few Silver Y and the ever present Diamond-backed Moth and also starting to pick up a few Rush Veneer and Rusty-dot Pearl but nothing more exciting as yet.
Stuart