On 28/06/10 10:34, echinosum wrote:
Martin;892100 Wrote:
My wife has these in her allotment. They are munching her root
vegetables. They seem to be common in the Netherlands but rare in UK.
'Rare insect, the mole cricket, discovered in Oxfordshire garden -
Natural History Museum' (http://tinyurl.com/273x66k)
How does one get rid of them?
With only 4 sightings in 25 years, they are now exceedingly rare in
Britain. They seem to like soggy ground. One place they used to be
found in Britain was in meadows alongside the River Mole (not named for
the cricket) in Surrey. But they have not been seen there recently. It
seems that modern agricultural practices are not a problem for them, if
they are common in NL. Perhaps it is just the pervasiveness of land
drainage that has done for them in Britain.

A few years ago the Netherlands decided not to conserve its last peat
bog on the grounds that, although rare in the Netherlands, there is
plenty of peat bog remaining in Ireland and Britain, with substantial
areas conserved. I really wonder whether the mole cricket ought to be a
conservation priority in Britain if they are common enough to be a pest
in neighbouring countries.

They are a pest in most countries except UK.

If you are desperate you could always come to the Netherlands and
collect a few mole crickets.