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Many insects make noises, especially during the summer months. Strip away the summer sounds of lawnmowers, children playing, dogs barking and traffic, and you'll soon realise just how noisy insects can be. All the buzzing, whirring, chirping and other insect noises can create a mini symphony in your garden! The question is, why do they make all this noise? There are two reasons: first, they make some noises to communicate with each other. Just like people, animals and birds; insects make various noises as a means of talking to each other. The second type of noise is the simple sound of the insects' motion. It is incidental and depends on the individual insect's activity. For example, the buzzing of a bee, or the flapping of a large moth's wings as it flies around your kitchen light, just happen - they don't mean anything. The main reason why there's so much extra noise in summer is simply because of the abundance of insects that are around in the warm weather. In the case of communicating, scientists say insects have a lot of information to share. Some of the sounds they make enable them to recognise a member of the same species as they search for a potential mate. Other sounds are calling members of the same species to food, or warning of danger. The messages can say, "Come closer," or "Spread out!" depending on the situation. Not all insects can communicate by sound. Of those that can, it is mostly the males making all the noise, doing so by rubbing body parts together. What is the noisiest insect? The noisiest insect in the UK is said to be the cricket. The male crickets start rubbing their wings together at dusk, dragging a small, raised part of one wing along a row of ridges on the other. This creates a series of clicks, in the same way that running your fingernail along the teeth of a comb creates a noise. Crickets make a short, perfectly spaced trilling that you can hear even from a distance throughout summer. There are 23 cricket species across the UK. Making sounds of up to 96 decibels, so similar to that of a lawnmower; the European mole cricket is the loudest. This particular species grows to 5 cm long and lives for three years. Until recent years, the mole cricket was believed to be extinct in the UK. However, it was spotted again in 2014 in the New Forest. The discovery was described as "extremely exciting" and DNA samples were taken by insect experts to monitor its progress. During the 20th century, the mole cricket population had seriously declined. In the 1960s, they were extremely rare and found only in southern England. The species was deemed to be endangered in 1987 in the UK. Individuals were found in imported pot plants and compost, but the species was no longer established in Britain. This changed in 2014, when entomologist Paul Brock visited the New Forest and discovered at least four males calling with their distinctive sounds. There are now believed to be at least 20 living in the New Forest. Why have crickets been under threat? All species of cricket declined in the 20th century. They are just starting to make a comeback following conservation efforts. In the 18th century, naturalist Gilbert White, of Selborne, in Hampshire, famously wrote how the "field-crickets shrilled on the verge of the forest". He wrote how their biggest threat was curious young boys, who had probed the crickets' burrows with stalks of grass. Unfortunately, during the 19th and 20th centuries, the crickets faced a far bigger threat: the loss of their natural habitat and changes in land management led to a dramatic decline in population. Research carried out in the 1980s revealed the once prevalent field cricket had almost been wiped out in Britain. All that remained were less than 100 individuals in one West Sussex location. Conservation experts started to catch young field crickets and moved them to new sites across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire in a bid to save them. There are now eight established populations in the UK. One of the biggest colonies, of about 300 crickets, has been established in around five years from just 12 individuals at the RSPB Farnham Heath reserve. Work is planned to establish a second population next to Tilford's Rural Life Centre in Surrey. The RSPB says more people need to hear the uplifting sound of the crickets' song, adding, "They have been significant in people's lives for centuries. Are we really going to be the generation that loses them?" Sitting in your garden on a warm, still summer night, or taking a walk in a rural location as dusk approaches will give you the best chance of hearing crickets in full song. Why do crickets make loud noises? Male crickets make their distinctive loud chirping noises in summer as part of their courtship ritual. It is like a love song to attract female crickets. You can often hear their cries from April onwards on warm nights. They create a burrow, with an entrance designed to act as a sound chamber to increase the volume of their cries. The male cricket "stridulates" to make the noise. This means he rubs his back legs together to entice the females. Sadly, this makes the male vulnerable. The noise is so loud that although it attracts females, it can also attract predators. To avoid predators, he hides in the vegetation near his burrow. Other males may hang around too. Scientists have described them as being "sneaky", as they know their fellow crickets' cries will attract females. Rather than put themselves at risk, the surrounding males may remain silent, but try to intercept the ladies as they arrive to answer the call! Crickets chirp less when it's cold, hence we hear their chirping noises only when it's warm outdoors. The female crickets do not make any sounds. Where can you find crickets? Crickets prefer to live in a habitat that is mainly grassland. Their favourite species of vegetation include fine-leaved and tufted fescue grass and wavy-hair grass. Hiding among the thick grass, the cricket makes loud chirruping noises as a means of communication. Scientists believe the listening females can differentiate between the numerous crickets' singing styles. They may like the sound of one particular cricket and start heading towards him, or they might decide they don't fancy the sound of another, so they won’t bother! Crickets will generally move around in pairs or in a group, known as an "orchestra" of crickets. Once the females set off, they will locate the individual burrows of the males that have attracted them. Each female will find a male who's the most appealing. She will lay her eggs in his burrow. The young larvae, or nymphs, will develop during late summer and early autumn. As soon as they are able, the young will dig their own burrow, where they will hibernate over winter. The shortest-lived cricket species live for only around ten weeks. Once they have reproduced, they will die when the young have dug their own burrow. The following spring, the nymphs will emerge. The males will start chirping as soon as the evenings get warmer and the whole cycle will begin all over again. Longer-lived crickets can experience several summers, although if the winter is severe, many will not survive. Research has found some crickets can survive for about a week if the temperature drops below -8°C. However, many will not recover from such a low temperature. The longest-lived cricket in the world is the Jerusalem cricket, otherwise known as stenopelmatus fuscus, which can live for up to four years. It is native to the United States and Mexico. Environmentalists say restoring the number of crickets in the UK to their former levels will improve the eco-system in general. Crickets provide food for other creatures. More local animals will return as a result and the area will be restored to its former glory. Has lockdown affected the UK cricket population? Ironically, the coronavirus lockdowns that have negatively impacted people have benefited the cricket population. Numbers in the UK has been increasing naturally since the first lockdown began in March 2020. The RSPB will continue to monitor field cricket populations, but it is delighted with the crickets' comeback to date.We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.