Martin vs The Horses From God

We have a problem in our courtyard with big grasshoppers.

The thing is, when they look down into it, they see a lovely sunny spot to bask, and a juicy lemon tree to snack on.

What they don't see is that there is no way for them to hop out again.

And so, at any given moment, the courtyard is occupied by two or three giant locust-like grasshoppers, at least 10cm long, forlornly hurling themselves at the wall in a bid to get high enough to escape the courtyard.

We are giving some serious consideration to buying a bit of garden furniture tall enough near a wall specifically so they can get out.

Claire hates them, and so the outside jobs have been delegated to me at the moment.

The other day I fetched in the plants which had spent the winter there, which was mostly uneventful until I discovered one of the plants I was moving had provided a nice resting spot for one of the grasshoppers.

He announced his presence, inevitably, by flying straight into my face.

I don't know why they do that - it doesn't seem to be a very good method of defence - "Hmm, a giant thing is near me, and it might kill me or eat me, so I'll fly as close as possible to its mouth. That'll put it off".

Mind you, I suppose it might work on cats.

Anyway, apparently the Greek name for grasshopper translates as "Horses From God". That isn't what we call them.

Comments

[Martin Belam]

Horses from God update - they simply were eating too much of the lemon tree, so as much as it is against my good nature, the last remaining grasshopper had to die yesterday.