A few days ago Ian Thirlwell sent me this photo of a large (18mm long) bug for identification. Ian had found next to his moth-trap in Portsmouth, and rather spectacular it looked too. It is Leptoglossus occidentalis, a species that seems to be turning up all of a sudden on the south coast, with further examples reported at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
and:
http://www.dungenessbirdobs.
The first British record that I can find was in Weymouth in 2007, see page 2 of:
http://www.hetnews.org.uk/
Ian's may be the 6th or so British record, and it is a nice-looking bug, but it may also be the latest invasive pest species to reach our shores, so good and bad news I think.
Update (18 October): there's more news of this bug at:
http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/index.html
Now being seen inland as well.
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