A dark gray bush cricket on the garden bannister

It was an amusing sort of day. I listened this morning to the Radio4 Extra series hosted by David Attenborough called ‘Life stories’. They are ten minute long anecdotes about various parts of his life’s work and personal interests. Today he described ‘Cicadas’ – ‘David Attenborough reveals the life of insects that emerge from the earth every 17 years’. I’ve never seen the sort of sights he described but have known cicadas from my travels on various continents over the years, including the amazing sounds they can produce from their tiny bodies.

About thirty minutes after the programme ended, I started a crossword, a relatively simple, non-cryptic one. One of my early answers to a clue was ‘cicada’. 

At lunchtime I went outside to fill up the sunflower feeder for the birds which hangs off a small tree branch above the patio. On the way down I saw a grasshopper perched on the top of a metal banister which is next to the rather steep steps from the house.

I stopped in my tracks being rather amused again by the timely sight of a grasshopper after the occurrence of cicada related incidents. I know they are not the same creature, but they are not that distant from each other.

On my way back to the house I resolved to get my camera and when I returned the grasshopper had moved sideways but was still is a suitable pose for my picture. It did look at me and when I got in close it trend sideways for a few moments.. At one point it looked over the top of the metal as if to keep out of sight!

I thought it might be a suitable blip. I do like a sense of synchronicity.

I’ve looked online and think it must be a dark gray bush cricket.