Field Cricket Grillus bimaculatus (was campestris) Female
I had never seen one of these before and this one was in perfect condition, as though freshly-emerged.
In September I was photographing shot-horned grasshoppers on an infrequently-cut lawn (grass ca. 10cm tall) at our hotel in central Corsica. Then I saw a black shape moving through the grass close to my knee. I though it was a huge cockroach.
I had to remove it from the grass to have any chance of a picture so I picked it up, only then realising that it was a cricket, a huge one. I placed on a sand/stoney area of ground and took quite a few shots, all the time expecting it to fly away. The best it seemed to be able to do was to large itself sideways in a large crevice at the base of a stone wall, which is where I eventually left it.
I had never seen one of these before and this one was in perfect condition, as though freshly-emerged.
In September I was photographing shot-horned grasshoppers on an infrequently-cut lawn (grass ca. 10cm tall) at our hotel in central Corsica. Then I saw a black shape moving through the grass close to my knee. I though it was a huge cockroach.
I had to remove it from the grass to have any chance of a picture so I picked it up, only then realising that it was a cricket, a huge one. I placed on a sand/stoney area of ground and took quite a few shots, all the time expecting it to fly away. The best it seemed to be able to do was to large itself sideways in a large crevice at the base of a stone wall, which is where I eventually left it.
It seems that the yellow colour extends onto the wings in males:
