New site planned for endangered wart-biter cricket

A conservation project has received a funding boost to help save one of Britain's rarest and most critically endangered insects by establishing a new population in Sussex.

A spokesperson for the scheme, headed by the charity Buglife, said the wart-biter bush crickets were only found in a few sites in the south of the UK.

The charity added the support from Defra meant it would help them carry out research toidentify a new site.

Conservation officer Alice Parfitt said the species - named due to a belief it could be used to "cure" warts by eating them - was an important indicator of the health and resilience of the UK's ecosystems.

Currently, the crickets are only found in six established sites, four in Sussex, one in Kent and one in Wiltshire.

The charity said the South Downs was the latest location where wart-biters have been introduced, though the site is yet to be classed as established.

"Wart-biters have very specific habitat requirements," Parfitt said. "They need high-quality chalk grassland with varied vegetation and bare ground to lay their eggs.

"They are omnivorous and depend on species-rich grassland habitats for their food source."

Parfitt said if wart-biters thrived in grass chalkland, this meant these rare habitats were healthy.

"If we can maintain these habitats, it benefits a myriad of other species too including pollinating insects," she added.

Parfitt added the recovery project, which is in its second year, aimed to identify new sites with suitable environment for the species.

"We've been catching wart-biters and relocating them to the South Downs," she said.

Parfitt said Castle Hill Nature Reserve, near Woodingdean, had the "healthiest" wart-biter population, with an estimated 1,000, while other sites supported populations in the low hundreds.

"We hope to establish 10 self-sustaining populations across the UK," she said.

Karim Vahed, England manager for Buglife, explained the wart-biter was endangered because it had specific habitat requirements.

"Changes in land management and grazing practices have reduced the amount of suitable habitat available to them," he said.

"Wart-biters feed on a range of food sources, including grasshoppers, other small insects, leaves and flowers, so they need a rich and diverse environment like chalk grassland to survive."

He added as it did not fly due to its size, this meant its capacity to disperse within and between sites was limited.

Buglife is also working with organisations including the Royal Entomological Society, Sussex Wildlife Trust and private landowners.

The charity aims to relocate about 30 wart-biters each year to establish a new population at new sites.

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