Just thought I'd hop in!!

We were most surprised to arrive home from an outing and found that we had an unexpected visitor waiting in our hallway, patiently gazing in the mirror. Quite surprised indeed!

Well, we could hardly allow this 'stranger' to go hopping into mischief all over the house, so we gently coaxed it into a jar, and from there into our butterfly kit house.

We've had plenty of small grasshoppers enjoying a good nibble in the veggie garden, but this was no small visitor. This one is about as long as my index finger. In fact, I've measured it's body (head to abdomen, so not including wings) and it's 55mm long.

Going through some websites, I believe we have a 'Spur-throated locust' (Austracris guttulosa) going by the description and markings. It is brown in colour and dark stripes and has the characteristic long triangle under the eyes. This also appears to be female (also explains why she was looking in the mirror, lol!)

This is one of our three native locusts. I found a very interesting write up of it's biology and behaviour to read to the children later. I've also had a look at the Locust Bulletin and noted that to have one reach our area is quite rare, so I should be quite pleased that we've had the opportunity to actually see a locust now and learn so much about them.