Current status
The mole cricket occurs throughout much of Europe, north Africa and western Asia, but is thought to be declining throughout its range. In the UK, the species used to occur in 33 vice-counties, mainly in southern England but also in southern Wales, western Scotland and Northern Ireland. By the mid 20th century its range had contracted substantially, to Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey. It may now be extinct, with the last confirmed record of a solitary specimen at Wareham, Dorset in 1988, but there have been several unconfirmed records since.
This large insect inhabits damp, but well-drained margins of wet areas. It prefers sandy soils, but has been found in grass tussocks in peaty areas and river silts. The cricket spends the majority of its life underground in a series of tunnels which it excavates. Both sexes can fly, assisting natural dispersal and colonisation.
The species is listed as Endangered in the GB Red List, and is protected under Schedule 5 of the WCA 1981.
Current factors causing loss or decline
Intensive mechanical cultivation or drainage of soils in arable and horticultural systems.
Lack of suitable grazing or cutting management in damp meadows, allowing the development of tall vegetation which makes the underlying soil too cold for breeding.
Heavy insecticide use.
Current action
A full species action plan was prepared by NE in 1995.
In 1994 a survey of known sites in Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset, and ecological work in Guernsey and the Netherlands, was grant-aided by NE under the Species Recovery Programme.
Appeals for information have been made in various journals in the last twenty years.
Action plan objectives and targets
Maintain any surviving colonies by the year 2000
Establish breeding colonies of the cricket in captivity by the year 2000.
Identify or establish 20 self-sustaining colonies throughout the cricket's former range by the year 2005.
Proposed actions with lead agencies
Policy and legislation
Seek to ensure that the requirements of the mole cricket are taken into account in catchment management plans for occupied areas. (ACTION: NRA)
Site safeguard and management
Encourage sympathetic management of known or potential sites. (ACTION: NE)
Consider targeting an appropriate land management scheme such as Countryside Stewardship, the Habitat Scheme, or ESAs, to any area found to support the species, to encourage natural colonisation or to facilitate translocation. (ACTION: MAFF)
Species management and protection
Establish captive breeding populations, preferably using native stock, to facilitate re-introductions or translocations by the year 2000. (ACTION: NE)
Following further survey and assessment, and identification of suitable receptor sites within the former range, identify or establish a series of at least 20 self-sustaining colonies by the year 2005. (ACTION: NE)
Advisory
Provide advice on suitable management for the mole cricket to land owners, managers and advisory bodies. (ACTION: NE)
Future Research and Monitoring
Survey all suspected and recent sites to determine the status of the species by the year 2000 and encourage entomologists and others to look out for the mole cricket and report any finds. (ACTION: NE)
Promote research into selected aspects of mole cricket ecology to help define the habitat and site management requirements, and captive breeding techniques. (ACTION: NE, NRA)
Survey to identify potential sites for translocations. (ACTION: NE)
Encourage research on the ecology and conservation of this species at an international level and use the information and experience gained towards its conservation in the UK. (ACTION: NE, JNCC)
Pass information gathered during survey and monitoring of this species to JNCC or BRC so that it can be incorporated in national databases. (ACTION: NE)
Provide information annually to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre on the UK status of the species to contribute to maintenance of an up-to-date global red lists. (ACTION: JNCC)
Communications and Publicity
Use this species to highlight the problems associated with loss of wetland edge. (ACTION: NE)
Links with other action plans
None given.
Publication details
Originally published in: Biodiversity: The UK Steering Group Report - Volume II: Action Plans (December 1995, Tranche 1, Vol 2, p143)