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The sound of summer
‘Pilgrims tread the road unaware that the deepest known root of all song and speech lies in the stones under their feet.’ David George Haskell is writing of the Camino de Santiago (for more on the trail turn to p14) where the fossil of an ancient cricket was found to be ‘the oldest direct physical evidence of sonic communication…the first known earthly voice.’ Today these insects and their grasshopper cousins trill the soundtrack of a summer walk. In Britain, 27 native species of orthoptera sing to attract a mate, each variety picking a different tune, from the staccato chip of the dark bush cricket to the sustained refrain of the common green grasshopper, like a tiny maraca being shaken in the grass. This calling, or normal, song can be audible up to a mile away – and it’s just the beginning. If there’s more than one male they compete in a rivals’ duet; the victor then switches to an elaborate courtship tune, followed by a brief ‘assault song’ and another refrain during mating. Their ‘singing’ is in fact stridulation: a sound grasshoppers make by pulling a pegged-leg across a wing, and crickets by rubbing two wings together. And they like to be musical at different hours: grasshoppers provide the daytime sunshine band, while twilight-loving crickets play the evensong.
5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS MONTH
1 Walkers are digging deep on mountains high
Most people take a lifetime to tick off Scotland’s 282 Munros (summits over 3000 feet) but Jamie Aarons has just bagged the lot in a record-breaking 31 days 10 hours and 27 minutes – and that included running, cycling and paddling between the peaks. Starting from Ben More on the Isle of Mull and finishing on Ben Klibreck in Sutherland (below), she covered 900 miles and 126,000 metres of ascent on foot, 900 miles and 14,500m of climbing by bike, plus 12 miles of kayaking, while raising £20,000 for World Bicycle Relief: see jamiesmunrochallenge.run In slower Munro news, the James Hutton Institute has been asking hillwalkers to collect soil samples from summits to study the biodiversity up in Scotland’s Alpine zone. All Munros have now been adopted, but you can discover more about this citizen science project and what they find at munro-biodiversity.hutton.ac.uk
2 Borrowdale Banksy sculpts again
A striking fan of slates leaning against a rock is the latest in a series of outdoor artworks to appear in one of the Lake District’s most beautiful valleys. It’s the work of a mystery artist who’s been dubbed the Borrowdale Banksy and while the precise location is being kept secret, those who know the valley well might be able to scout it out...
3 FOLK ON FOOT IS TAKING A BIG WALK
