MATCH DAY 5 – England v. Afghanistan
Camel spider (credit: Gail Hampshire)
If you watched BBC Springwatch last week you may have seen a lovely film with Mike Coates of the RSPB, demonstrating “cricket tickling”. By inserting a reed stem into field cricket burrows, he carefully captures equal numbers of males and females to relocate to new patches of heathland. You should still be able to watch episode 11 on iPlayer for a while.
Representing Afghanistan is the camel spider!
The camel spider, or wind scorpion, is neither a true spider or scorpion (or a cricket), but belongs to its own group of arachnids called solifugidae. They live in dry regions like Afghanistan and use speed to catch their arthropod prey, including crickets!
Warden Steve