I am back here in Alhama, and I have noticed there is a constant noise in the air, mainly from up the trees..
Now I already know the locals think I am strange but I have been constantly looking up trees and on the mountains but can't find out what it is.
I know it's not crickets or grasshoppers, someone suggested a butterfly type insect, but I'm not sure,
I noticed when I was walking the dogs very early that there were some sort of beetle type things jumping out of the trees and flying off when I approached... is this them??
Any help out there for this mad woman...

By the way, the noise is constant from about seven in the morning till late at night... and varies constantly in decibels..
Thanks Jan xx

sounds like cicadas - we get them - it sounds like the trees are humming

Me too. When I first heard them I thought there must be thousands of them. Then the noise stopped abruptly and I realised there was only one. They must be the loudest creatures for their size in the world!

My strangest Cicada experience was when one of our cats came into the house with a bemused expression on his face and emitting some very un-catlike sounds.

He then opened his mouth to reveal a Cicada!

There are loads of different types of crickets, grasshoppers and cicadas in Spain. Some of them are incredibly loud and rasping, you would never believe the noise came from one small creature. You'll never see them though!

one of my cats brings in all sorts of non-furry creatures & drops them in the middle of the living room - cicadas & geckos are favourite

furry things get taken upstairs for some reason

it seems she is beginning to accept the new kittens, because yesterday she brought in a praying mantis & dropped it at the feet of one of the kittens for it to play with......................

unless you have cats

pocaloca, thanks for the video.... the sound here is similar to that, but where the cicadas sort of go chi chi chi chi (or words to that effect lol) the sound here is one continous sound.... similar to the sound of an electricity pylon.. that's about the best I can describe it...
thanks to the others for their help too xxx

The more there are,then the more it seems like one continuous and constant sound.

Maybe you have a hell of a lot of them together, not unusual, or maybe something else but offhand I can't think what.

yep, I just found a video on u tube and you're all right, it is chicadas... crikey they're loud for a little bug...

I can't think it can be anything else, either

A perfect description!

They drive me crazy too...Im sure I read somewherethat the noise comes from their throats..correct me if Im wrong...cant wait for them all to mate and then die.

They kind of vibrate the sides of the abdomen which is partly hollow inside and acts like an amp.
I don't mind them,they remind me of warm climates and good times such as staggering back to my country pension on a nighttime, on a Greek island after a skinful.

They get louder and change pitch when the temperature rises.

So they will be drowning us out soon!

We came down through the French canals on our yacht and were constantly plagued by engine problems. Like most sailing yacht engines it was a pretty noisy animal.

Coming down the canalised Loire towards Avignon we were passing through a deep man made cut when the engine started making a funny noise yet again. I called the crew up from below and she heard it immediately. We were in a wide part of the river and there were no other boats about so I switched the engine off and we drifted.

The noise was scarcely less. The noise of several thousand crickets on the bank some distance away had overcome my noisy old 4 cylinder virtually unsilenced Diesel.

Avignon appears to be the cricket centre of the world. They sell model crickets in the tourist shops.

Our cat Charlie catches them, pulls a leg off and watches them hop around in circles for ages.