University develops app to help search for the rare New Forest cicada
June 2013. Researchers from the University of Southampton have released a smartphone app to help in the search for a rare insect found only in the New Forest National Park.
New Forest Cicada - Sings May - July
The New Forest Cicada (Cicadetta montana) is the only cicada native to the UK. During May to July it sings with a very characteristic high-pitched song, which is at the limits of human hearing and is particularly difficult for most adults to hear. Sightings of the cicada within the New Forest date back to 1812, but the last unconfirmed sighting was in 2000. However, it's quite likely that colonies remain undiscovered in less visited parts of the forest.
Dr Alex Rogers, a Reader in the Agents, Interaction and Complexity Research Group in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, who leads the work of the New Forest Cicada Project says: "Modern smartphones have extremely sensitive microphones and enough computing power to automatically detect and recognise the song of the New Forest cicada.
"We're hoping that the millions of visitors to the New Forest can use their smartphones to help us locate any remaining colonies of the cicada that might remain in the forest."
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