The Field Cricket was formerly common throughout most of Western Europe but changes in farming practices over the last 100 years has led to a catastrophic population decline. It was never particularly common in Britain but by the 1980's its population had dwindled to almost extinction and was restricted to a single location with fewer than 100 individuals present. A concerted habitat improvement and reintroduction programme was started in 1992 and over the last 25 years has proved to be quite successful. At one site alone (Farnham Heath RSPB reserve) 300 individuals were recorded in 2016, only 6 years after the initial reintroduction started at that location. On the back of this success, the RSPB (with funding help from the National Lottery) are working on establishing a second colony at Farnham and restoring habitat at the nearby Pulborough Brooks for the reintroduction of another colony.
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