Meadow Grasshopper

The Meadow Grasshopper is mostly green in colour, with brown wings. Some can be entirely brown, while others can be purple-red and pink. They have short forewings that do not reach the end of their abdomen. Males are long-winged, while females are usually short-winged.

The Meadow Grasshopper doesn’t have hindwings, making it the only flightless grasshopper in Britain.

They are found amongst mainly damp, unimproved pastures and meadows in long grass. They eat grass and plants. Grasshopper nymphs hatch in April and go through a series of moults before they turn into adults in June. They remain until September, with some surviving into October and November.

Males display to females by rubbing their legs against their wings to create a ‘song’, which makes a regular ‘rrrr’ sound.

The female lays her eggs just below the soil, in a pod, which hatch out the following spring.

The Meadow Grasshopper is a common and widespread species in Britain.