Hop of hope returns biggest grasshopper to the Norfolk Broads

Britain’s biggest grasshopper has returned to the Broads after 86 years thanks to a conservation programme called Hop of Hope.

Natural England said the large marsh grasshopper – also one of the UK’s rarest species – last hatched in the wild in Norfolk in 1939.

The insect is found in fens and peat bogs and females can be 35mm (1.5in) long – but it was in decline because of loss of habitats.

Hannah Thacker, deputy director for Norfolk and Suffolk Natural England, said it demonstrated “nature’s incredible resilience when given the right support”.

She added: “These grasshoppers are not just surviving, but breeding and creating sustainable populations…”

Ms Thacker said Natural England’s partners had developed “ground-breaking techniques using pre-incubated eggs to establish new populations in Norfolk sites where bog and fen habitats are thriving”.

The Hop of Hope programme is run by Citizen Zoo, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, Natural England and the South Yare Wildlife Group.

It is part of a Natural England £13m species recovery programme which supports the government’s commitment to halt species decline by 2030.

As of 2018, the large marsh grasshopper was found in valley mires and wert heaths in the New Forest and Dorset.

Since 2019, about 6,500 reared grasshoppers have been released into the wild across six sites in Norfolk, including at Wild Ken Hill, near Heacham.

Natural England said the return of the species proved that collaborative action could bring species back from the brink of regional extinction.

There are now hopes to reintroduce the species at other locations in Norfolk.