Invasive pest alert

Nollie

Halyomorpha halys - Doesn’t seem to be very widespread in the UK yet, but one to watch out for on your beloved fruit trees, tomatoes, sweetcorn etc. Have just received a fact sheet on them from our local council so it appears they are here. In fact, I am pretty sure it was the stink bug breeding on my potatoes and tomatoes last summer…

Not suggesting anyone goes out to enact biological warfare, they didn’t seem to do any damage to my spuds, but I did get some boring/munching of my toms so it’s possible these were the culprits.

Found this defra info:
https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/assets/factsheets/Halyomorpha-halys-Defra-Pest-Factsheet-March-2021-FINAL.pdf

Obelixx

Thanks @Nollie.   I shall keep an eye out for that one.

floralies

Thanks @Nollie, we have brown and green shield/stink bugs here so will take a closer look at the brown ones.

2000GTV

These were a very big menace in my garden last year. They particularly loved my irises but were also happy to devour other flowers. They certainly smell foul, as I discovered in my quest to eradicate them. Before I could do any gardening I had to do a daily patrol of my plants then keep re-checking them. 

I have lots of weird and wonderful insects in my garden, which I find fascinating, and am reluctant to kill anything (apart from mosquitoes!) but make an exception for these. 

Crazybeelady

Did I have one in my garden this year?  I can't work out if it is one or if it's a sloe bug, they're so similar!  I just took a picture as I thought its pattern was funny, like a man with a big moustache.

Desi_in_London

@Crazybeelady , from the link that @Nollie pasted , to me the antennal banding pattern would suggest sloe bug.

Fire

Just to note that there are 4000 species of of stink / shield bug. The one featured in this thread is native to Asia and has recently turned up in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_marmorated_stink_bug

wild edges

Desi_in_London said:

@Crazybeelady , from the link that @Nollie pasted , to me the antennal banding pattern would suggest sloe bug.

If anyone does need to identify a bug then the British Bugs website is really simple to use and shows most bugs in all their various lifecycle stages.

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/gallery.html  Is the main page

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/gallery/heteroptera/Pentatomoidea/pentatomoidea.html Is the shieldbug gallery page

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Pentatomidae/dolycoris_baccarum.html is the hairy shieldbug that @Crazybeelady saw in her garden (also known as sloebug).

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Pentatomidae/halyomorpha_halys.html Is the page for the Brown Marmorated Shieldbug and has some good info on the current status in the UK. It looks like our climate isn't especially suitable for them (yet) but they may be able to survive and get established in very sheltered areas.

I spoke to the guys that run the site last year and they're very helpful and well informed on current research. I was asking them about another invasive bug but in that case the invaders were already a native species that were barely surviving and the population appears to be having a boost thanks to hitchhikers coming in on plants from Europe.

Dovefromabove

I do hope that the news reports of the Marmorated Stink Bugs' arrival in the UK doesn't lead to a load of folk just killing every Shield Bug they come across 

Fire

...that would be the worry...

Crazybeelady

Glad to hear mine was just a Sloe bug thanks. I didnt kill mine @Dovefromabove - I've actually got a selection of insect photos in my downstairs toilet wall, this being one of them. So I was a bit embarrassed to hear I had potentially put an invasive species on my wall 😂.