As part of his passion for conservation and biodiversity, Ross Holdgate, Principal Ecologist, recently volunteered with Citizen Zoo, an organisation dedicated to restoring habitats, reintroducing species to their former ranges, and engaging local communities to protect nature.
The project Ross contributed to focuses on the bog bush-cricket, a large and colourful insect whose range, particularly in East Anglia, has dramatically declined due to historic habitat loss. The species is now considered vulnerable to extinction at its remaining sites. The team’s goal is to assess whether existing populations are strong enough to allow some individuals to be taken for captive breeding, a key step towards reintroducing the species to areas where it has disappeared.
Ross joined the Citizen Zoo team at Buxton Heath in north Norfolk, where he helped to evaluate the population size.
“Bog bush-cricket is a large, colourful insect,” Ross explained. “We were trained in how to safely catch and identify them. They can also be located by their distinctive calls, and we used both sight and sound to search as a group and carry out a count across the heath.”
After several hours honing their survey techniques, the team tallied more than 100 bog bush-crickets within the area surveyed. This encouraging result provides valuable data for Citizen Zoo, helping to build the case for a responsible reintroduction programme.
“Understanding the current population is an important step for a responsible reintroduction project,” Ross added. “This work will hopefully help to give a more secure future to this unique species.”
Ross also shared that he hopes to stay involved with the project and might even take on the rewarding task of caring for a batch of captive-reared crickets at home in the future.
Through projects like this, Citizen Zoo and its dedicated volunteers are making a real difference for vulnerable species one step, and one cricket, at a time.
