Just been reading about yet another couple of foreign pest that are thriving
in the UK.

The Southern Green Shield Bug (Nezara viridula) is spreading in Britain
after being found breeding in the London area in 2003. It's a sap sucking
insect which feeds on a wide range of plants but is rather fond of veg crops
especially beans. Normal Shield bug shape, adults are uniformly green all
over, whereas immature ones are dark green with a number of white or red
circular marking on the upper surface.

Wisteria Scale (Eulecanium excrescens) from Asia, which likes wisteria and
also fruit trees, is also on the march and left untouched is capable of
killing even old mature plants. Unlike other Scale this one grows a sack
around itself and then lays thousands of eggs underneath it to hatch and
climb further up the plant. So far it's only been found on a few Wisteria
plants in S. London but in other parts of the world it infests sycamore and
fruit trees too. This one has the potential to become a serious problem
especially for our fruit farmers.

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Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK