Invasion of the True Bug
Last week we had a very unexpected species in the moth trap in our Woodbridge garden -with 2 Western Conifer Seed Bugs - quite a sizeable and attractively marked insect. Western Conifer Seed Bugs are species of 'True Bug' from the family Coreidae and were originally native to western USA. More recently they have expanded their range (on timber imports) and become an invasive species in part of Europe. They were first noted in Northern Italy in 1999. In the UK they was first recorded in 2007 but autumn 2008 saw a large influx along the British south coast, a result of natural immigration from continental Europe. We are unsure of the current status in the UK and if this species has been recorded previously in Suffolk . . .