Speckled Bush-cricket

Leptophyes punctatissima

Their song is almost entirely ultrasonic, pitched at about 40 kHz, making it nearly silent to human ears without a bat detector.

Scientific name: Leptophyes punctatissima
Taxonomy: Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Orthoptera › Tettigoniidae › Leptophyes
IUCN Red List status: Least Concern
Population trend: stable
Biome: forest
Habitat: Woodland margins, hedgerows, gardens, and dense shrubbery
Diet: Herbivorous, feeding on a wide variety of leaves including bramble, nettle, and deciduous trees
Range: Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Scandinavia, British Isles
Size: 10 - 18 mm in length, with females being slightly larger
Lifespan: 1 year (overwinters as eggs, adults live for 3 to 4 months)
Active: crepuscular
Threats: Habitat loss from hedgerow removal and intensive pesticide use in urban and agricultural areas
Safe to approach?: Harmless. You can safely observe this insect on garden shrubs and brambles. They do not bite or sting humans. If one lands on you, gently nudge it onto a nearby leaf.

The speckled bush-cricket ( Leptophyes punctatissima ) is a flightless species of bush-cricket that occurs across most of Europe.

Photo: Ludivine Lamare, CC-BY, via iNaturalist