Field crickets make a comeback

31 August 2000



Field crickets make a comeback

By FWi staff

FIELD crickets which were left on the verge of extinction because of changes in farming methods are making a comeback, reports The Times.

Some 2,000 captive bred insects have just been released on Broxhead Common and Shortheath Common nature reserves in Hampshire.

This is the latest stage of a successful breeding programme co-ordinated by English Nature has given the field cricket a foothold in several parts of southern England.

In 1987 only a single colony of 100 crickets was left in West Sussex, and its extinction was forecast by 1997.

• The Times 31/08/2000 page 10 and page 17