When Bush-crickets Bite Back: the life and times of the Wart-biter

Join me at Brighton’s Castle Hill National Nature Reserve for episode 3, where I’m hot on the trail of Britain’s most endangered insect: the Wart-biter Bush-cricket.They’re tricky to find so luckily I’m with my pal and brilliant entomologist, Alice Parfitt, who is leading on the species recovery programme of this impressive species through her work at Buglife and the Changing Chalk partnership.With the backdrop soundscape of Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and Linnets we tune in to the distinctive sound of the stridulating Wart-biter, explore its complex habitat requirements and if climate-change might help or hinder conservation efforts. Plus why on earth are they called Wart-biters?! Working with partners and landowners Alice is facilitating better habitat management of the chalk grassland it inhabits and raising awareness of this fantastic insect, and all the other species that benefit from this rare habitat. We talk about the importance of arming volunteers with the skills to help monitor this species in to the future and how to conduct a survey of an insect that doesn’t want to be seen.