Country diary: the insect mosh pit in the chalk scrub

Linkenholt, Hampshire, North Wessex Downs: The Sgt Pepper military yellow of St John’s wort rocks against the stiff purple mohicans of knapweedI am in the garden, gently nodding along to the strains of Joy Division – specifically She’s Lost Control, being played for the fourth time that morning by my 18-year-old son. It is not until the synth snare veers off that I realise I’ve been bopping along to the stridulating chirps of an indie punk grasshopper. It is time to go ou