Chorthippus brunneus

The Common Field Grasshopper is usually brown, but green and other colour forms exist. Sharply angled keels on the top of the thorax and dense hair below. The wings stretch well beyond the tip of the abdomen, and enable them to fly some distance. The upper side of the tip of the abdomen is usually reddish, especially in males. Length 15 to 25mm. The song is a short sequence of chirps, similar to time-signal pips.

It feeds on low vegetation, but mainly grasses.

Seen June to October. It occurs mainly on dry grassland and meadows. It flies more readily than most grasshoppers, and it is also seen on mown lawns. Widespread and common.

Photographs taken August 2015, local fields, Staffordshire.