Sculcoates, KC Stadium railway triangle, Jack Kaye field and Hull Speckled Bush-crickets

After the session with the Speckled Bush-crickets in the Makro site and St Andrews Quay on Friday with the bat detector, I decided to check for them in several spots around Hull with suitable habitat. Although I thought it was a long shot, I know they are under-recorded, as research by the BTO has revealed. First, they are quite inactive during the day, resting motionless on the vegetation, sometimes high up. Second, their calls are very high-pitched, in the ultrasound range, at 40 kHz, almost as high-pitched as a Common Pipistrelle. The bat-detector converts their call into an audible signal, which is reminiscent of the regular 'click' of an electric fence. Third, they are superbly camouflaged, I seem unable to spot them, even when they are calling really close to me!

Until Friday I had been setting the bat detector to 25 khz, which picks both coneheads and Roesel's, but will likely miss the Speckled. I became determined to check for them across Hull.

Yesterday, I started the search at the Sculcoates patch, which has plenty of bramble patches. I pointed the bat detector to each bit of bramble with a sunny aspect I could get close to. I hit patch gold quickly, just by the Beverley and Barmston Drain, just south of the railway line. It was a faint signal, and I listened for a while to make sure it wasn't my imagination, but no, the Specked Bush-cricket signal was persistent and associated to a particular spot, and appeared to come from a single individual, possibly from the other side of a hedge of brambles atop the drain. Exciting, Speckled in the patch! 

I then moved to the North Sculcoates Cemetery. The chugging of the Long-winged Coneheads was very loud in the meadow, and after pointing the bat detector to several big, south facing patches of bramble with no result, I was about to give in. Then I saw the large privet in the middle of the meadow. Worth a try. I'm glad I did, as I got a Speckled signal, loud and clear on the area directly in front of the sun, also, a single individual. Despite appearing to be very close, again, no luck seeing the insect. Still, I was quite chuffed and got a nice record of the call.

Africa Gómez · Speckled n cem Sculcoates.m4a

Yesterday after lunch, I visited the KC Stadium railway triangle. It wasn't warm at all, but there was high cloud and the Long-winged Coneheads and Roesel's were calling. I spent a while around the brambles on the far end, but hit a blank with the Speckled: nothing.

Jack Kaye Field

Today, my plan was the Jack Kaye field, which has plenty of apparently suitable habitat. Again, brief sunny spells and cool weather. Long-winged Coneheads and Roesel's were calling, and there were plenty of invertebrates to keep me going but, again, no Speckled calls. 

There was no hesitation by this female Araneus quadratus at Jack Kaye Fields when a wasp bumped onto her web. It was swiftly wrapped up in silk and immobilised. Note the little glue dropplets in the silk threads.

Perks of staring at brambles looking for bush-crickets: Three sightings of Spiked Shieldbug three days in a row, I had never recorded them in Hull, now records at KC stadium triangle, Makro site and Jack Kaye Fields. Two individuals together on one occasion, at Jack Kaye three of them. It is a large, predatory shield-bug with pointy 'shoulders', which curiously communicates with substrate vibrations.

Three Spiked Shieldbugs in the same area.

A female Roesel's with only one hindleg.

A pair of basking Long-winged Coneheads on a tree trunk.

Male Long-winged Conehead.

Male Roesel's calling.

I returned home via Ella Street and the public footpath behind Ella Street and Victoria Avenue. There were some patches of ivy, cherry and some bramble over a fence facing the sun (top shot), and as I pointed the bat detector at the vegetation I realised I was standing in front of another surprise Speckled Bush-cricket colony, this time several individuals were calling, one of them very close (recording with bat detector here: https://on.soundcloud.com/czHUS ). Although I got no sightings today, I was very pleased with the detection rate so far.

Dispersal

I was talking about dispersal of this flightless species in the post yesterday. The Makro site is on the site of old railway sidings and very close to the A63 and the railway line. The two sites at Sculcoates are metres away from the Hull and Barmsley railway line, and Ella Street backs onto the Hull and Barnsley line too.  Railway lines and the scrubby vegetation growing alongside, with plenty of bramble, makes a perfect dispersal corridor for this species, and I will prioritise surveying along railway lines for now.