British conservationists have returned from a French military base with eggs of the New Forest cicada, a singing insect that disappeared from England in the 1990s.
The Species Recovery Trust (SRT) collected the eggs from the Académie militaire de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan in Brittany and transported them to Paultons Park Zoo in Hampshire. Using specialist listening equipment, researchers located male cicadas singing and traced the eggs, which the females had hidden inside the stems of bracken.
Pete Hughes, a volunteer with the SRT who joined the expedition, described the search across the 5,300-hectare military academy near Rennes. "We went creeping around the grounds of this military base using ultrasound detectors to try to hear the male cicadas singing, so it did feel a bit James Bond," he said. The site's mix of woodland and grassland closely resembles habitats found in the New Forest.
Researchers gathered 20 bracken stems bearing the marks left by females depositing eggs into the plant tissue, and carried the samples across the Channel last month. At Paultons Park, staff built miniature vases designed to keep the stems alive while stopping any hatched nymphs from falling into water.
A decades-long absence
The New Forest cicada, known scientifically as Cicadetta montana, was once widespread across the national park, but the last confirmed sightings came in the 1990s. Conservationists believe changes to habitat management may have contributed to its disappearance from the UK, even though the species continues to thrive elsewhere in mainland Europe.
In 2023, the SRT secured funding from Natural England to investigate whether the insect could be reintroduced using donor populations from the continent. An earlier attempt last year saw researchers capture 11 female cicadas in France.
Even if the newly collected eggs hatch, the project faces a long timeline. The immature insects are believed to spend between four and 10 years underground feeding on plant roots before emerging as adults. Only after that stage could conservationists consider releasing cicadas at a chosen, undisclosed location in the New Forest.
Charlotte Carne, programmes manager at the SRT, said the effort was also filling gaps in scientific knowledge. "We're really excited about the project because, by rearing the cicadas in captivity first, we are learning a lot about their life cycle and behaviour, much of which is still a mystery even to experts across Europe," she said.
She added that the ultimate goal remains the return of the insect's distinctive sound to its former home. "We are now able to look forward to a time when we can once again walk through the New Forest in summer and hear hundreds of cicadas singing their hearts out."