Crickets
A sand or heather landscape in summer is hardly imaginable without the chirping of crickets. From May, the “singing” of the crickets can be heard from far away in many areas, sometimes up to 100 metres away. As crickets make the noises with the two wings that they rub against each other, the sounds are not referred to as “singing” but rather as chirping or stridulating. Only the males are capable of this kind of sound production; the females lack the corresponding structures on the wings. The hearing organs of crickets are also unusual: They are located on the front legs.
Crickets live in a hole that they dig 10 to 20 cm into the sand. Unlike other grasshoppers, they rarely jump and do not jump far. Most of the time they walk across the sand, and they are very nimble at the same time. A few years ago, crickets were rare in the Senne, but the many warm summers of recent times have meant that their “singing” can be heard again in many places.
