The Lyons Share

Great Green Bush-crickets can be really hard to find but this one was just sat right out in the open on a Creeping Thistle and seemed to be munching on thistle seeds! This really is a huge insect, females can be 55 mm long. I have been at Malling Down for the last few days monitoring the chalk-grassland by quadratting and there are hundreds of Silver-spotted Skippers up there this year. This butterfly benefits from the same management that benefits the Adonis Blue, it likes tightly grazed warm slopes with lots of the food plant, Sheep's Fescue.