Cricket ‘ticklers’ fancy repopulating fields

Cricket “ticklers” are to help bring a once-common species back from the brink of extinction.

Populations of field crickets dropped to just 100 individuals at a single location in the Eighties and despite recovering, they are still one of the UK’S most threatened species.

Now the RSPB and Natural England want to boost populations of the crickets, once the soundtracks to summer evenings. Using a technique known as “tickling” with a blade of grass, experts are encouraging young field crickets that are hatching underground to emerge so they can be caught and moved to new areas.