Grasshoppers

Identification Difficulty

These were all taken at Oversley Wood and (I think) demonstrate the difficulty in identifying Grasshoppers.

Should be dead simple , surely? There are only about half a dozen Grasshopper species you are realistically going to come across. trouble is they can come in a variety of colours.

These 4 all look different but I am going to stick my neck out and say that I think that the first 3 are all Meadow Grasshoppers and the 4th may be also.

Meadow Grasshopper?

I love the colours of this one. I think it is a female by the very short wings as the Meadow Grasshopper is flightless and the female has the shortest wings.

Meadow Grasshopper?

Colouring is very different to the one above but it again has the very short wings.

Meadow Grasshopper?

Same again?  What I like about this shot is how it demonstrates how this colour form is perfect camouflage for its environment.

Meadow or Common Green Grasshopper?

I would like this to be another Meadow Grasshopper to reinforce the theme but on this one I do have my doubts. I think the wings might be too long even for a male and if so then it is probably the Common Green.