A colleague of mine in the Essex Wildlife Trust has just brought to me a specimen of the American "Western Conifer Seed Bug" Leptoglossus occidentalis. It was in a first floor office. The species was introduced into Europe in 1999 (accidentally one hopes) and there are now occasional reports of it making it over the channel to the UK. It is apparently deemed a potential pest in the UK so Defra or associated agencies would like to know of all such sightings. I'll try and post a picture of it - a very handsome (and large) beast.
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This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at 
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more