Speckled Bush-cricket - Leptophyes punctatissima

Length 9-18 mm. As the name suggests, the green body is covered in tiny black spots, it also has a pale brown stripe down its back. Adult females have a large, upturned, scimitar-shaped appendage at their rear - this is an ovipositor used to deposit eggs.

Found in woodland, hedgerows, scrub and gardens.

Adults present from late July or early August until November.

Herbivorous, feeding on a range of shrubs and other vegetation. Eggs are laid in the bark of trees or shrubs.

This is perhaps the commonest Bush-cricket, but most records come from the Midlands and southern England.

Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Widespread and locally common, probably under-recorded.