Friday-Sun 5th-7th September 2014
Bit of catching up to do..........I always put some time aside at this time of year to get down the New Forest to catch up with a couple of national rarities in the grasshopper world.
The New Forest and Purbeck around the Poole basin are the best areas in the country for Orthoptera and me, being interested in all things Grasshopper and Crickety,tend to be drawn to these areas in late summer.
Specifically these areas are the national strongholds for the Large Marsh and Heath Grasshoppers.The Large Marsh preferring the scary "quaking bogs" and the Heath preferring er Heath,a bit drier in the habitat requirements.
Just like butterflies there are colour variations within populations and one of the jewels is the purple form of the Large Marsh,and although the Purbeck colonies seem to possess greater frequency of the purple ones,the same cannot be said for
the New Forest populations,in fact I've never found one in the New Forest.
I camped at quite a popular campsite on the edge of Lymington and in rather murky conditions set about hunting the bogs and heaths of the Southern parts of the New Forest in search of my quarry.
Wooton Bog,to the South West of Brokenhurst contains a good colony of Large Marsh's and it wasn't long before specimens were located,the light was pretty poor,but I did manage to find a rather striking,freshly moulted, female Large Marsh but
photos were naff,back tomorrow for them.
Lovely Small Copper though.
- Wooton Bog Small Copper2
- Wooton Bog Small Copper
- Wooton Bog over to the left
Next day wizzed over to Bagnum Bog at the far Southern end of Kingston Great Common near Burley,as the sun finally broke through the male Large Marsh's started to "pop",they stridulate differently to other grasshoppers,its quite unique.
The males are striking and readily fly when approached,with their yellow and red legs trailing out behind them,its tricky to keep up and they will have flight bursts upto 10metres,also the added scariness of these bogs makes for a good
adrenaline rush,if crashing through a quaking bog is your thing.Actually that's dangerous,know your limitations!(Always check where the "quaking" begins and make sure its safe before any attempt to walk on it is made,I always check with a
birch pole!)
- Bagnum Bog Large Marsh Male
The females are slightly more "skulky" and will wander around the undergrowth in short hops,they are bulky insects and flight is more of an absolute necessity,than a normal reaction.So watching footfall is forever going on when searching for
the females.
- Bagnum Bog Female Large Marsh
Now,I've searched for a Purple one here many a time with no joy,today my luck was in,absolutely the find of this year for me,one of Britains most impressive insects,without doubt.
- Bagnum Bog Large Marsh Female,purple form.
- Bagnum Bog Large Marsh Female,purple form.2
Fantastic,a day I will never forget and the shots to do it justice.A good colony here,counted around 40 individuals in about 4 hours,a good survey will produce a good number,I'm sure.Wandered back to the car and still had some energy to chase
a couple of Grayling around.
- Bagnum Bog Grayling
- Bagnum Bog,still quaking!
Then up to Vales Moor at the Northern end of Kingston Great common for the Heathies and a stronghold of these in the New Forest,they like short heather around those mini-gorse bushes.
It took it little while but lady luck shone on me again,this was the last grasshopper I learnt to identify "on the hoof",always struggled with these but finally got it.From above they have two dark bands across the hind formora and the black
wedges on the pronotum extend to the back of it.The field grasshopper is similar but the black wedges do not extend to the back of the pronotum.
- Vales Moor Heath Grasshopper Female
And from above showing the pronotum wedges and dark bands across the back legs.
- Vales Moor Heath Grasshopper Female 2
The males are smaller and tricky little blighters,also very dark,needing to lift the exposure compensation to gain the detail.
- Vales Moor Heath Grasshopper Male
- Vales Moor
Went back to Wooton Bog to locate the freshly moulted female and once again refound my quarry.
- Wooton Bog Large Marsh Female,newly moulted
At first the yellow hew had me suspicious and I needed to consult an expert or two,but we reckon this one probably became adult within the last two days,brilliant.
That was a day for me,spent the evening at Keyhaven having a few beers and reflecting on a marvellous day for me and grasshoppers! Just to cap it a brown form Long-winged conehead female appeared as I was kicking the grass on the banks
of one of the ditch's,amazing these are always bright green with the form being "occasional",first I'd photographed.
- Keyhaven Long winged Conehead female brown form
Then she tries to lay eggs into this hogweed stem which was a prop for photography,action shot,bizarre contortions!
- Keyhaven Long winged Conehead female brown form2
Watched the egrets for a while before wandering back to the campsite.Went to another bog on the Sunday but the weather was all foggy and dank,so no more bug hunting this weekend,went home a happy chappy.
- Keyhaven Egret
- View from Keyhaven
Isn't there a rare Fritillary sometimes found over that way..........another day maybe
Thanks
Great butterfly shots too BTW 
