The hay horse in the picture is a common grasshopper. It likes to eat aphids, which makes every gardener happy. IMAGE: Walter46 for Pixabay

Are grasshoppers eating the plants in your garden?

Don’t worry: a few crickets in the flower bed won’t make an all-destroying swarm of grasshoppers! You don’t have to worry about your flowers or plants. Grasshoppers belong to the grasshopper family, of which there are over 1000 species in Europe alone.

Pink grasshopper spotted in the UK

One of the greatest pleasures for gardeners is to spot a pink grasshopper, as happened to an English gardener in July 2023. According to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, there’s a 1 percent chance that you’ll see a pink grasshopper in your lifetime.

More likely are crickets, the green grasshopper, or the oak cricket – but you can be happy about those, too.

Grasshoppers in the food chain

Most species feed on a mixed diet of plants (e.g., clover, dandelion, grasses, blackberry leaves, caterpillars and flies). Grasshoppers are also a delicacy for many animals, including hedgehogs, birds, shrews, and moles.

Click here for more tips on how to make your garden more natural and wildlife-friendly:

Close to nature garden design: A paradise for wild animals and insects

Species conservation in everyday life – 10 tips