This monster was spotted in the garden yesterday. Not knowing if it was native or not she was carefully captured, photographed and released back into the garden where found. A quick web search revealed it to be a fairly common variety of cricket – Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera).
The large horn shaped bit at the end of the abdomen is an ovipositor (egg-laying tube).
10/11/2010 An interesting fact about Bush-crickets has just been published on the BBC website which you can read by clicking here – "Scientists have found a bushcricket species with testicles that account for up to 14% of its body weight."