What they like

Dense scrub with a mess underneath. Nettles, brambles, hawthorn, blackthorn, elder. Preferably with a damp ditch bank or a rough edge. In gardens and parks: let a corner go wild, don’t make it “neat”. On homesteads and farmland: create wide, rough margins along hedgerows and shelterbelts. Mow in stages, not all at once.

Ecological importance

An insect-eater with taste: beetles, caterpillars, ants, spiders. And yes, slugs too. That way they helps keep pests down in green areas and crop margins. He themself is on the menu for sparrowhawk, cats and martens. So: give them cover, not a bare billiard-table lawn.

When in the Netherlands

Summer visitor. Usually mid-April to September. Sings mainly in May and June, often in the evenings and at night.

Status

Fairly common, but dependent on enough rough growth and shrubs. Disappears quickly if everything is neatly pruned and mown to a bare lawn.