GROWERS will be at the heart of tackling the diamondback moth "super pest" in this year's AHDB Pest Bulletin.

UK Brassica growers are monitoring populations across Cornwall, Devon, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Fife, with the first sighted report in West Sussex.

Dr Rosemary Collier, director of Warwick Crop Centre at the University of Warwick, said: "The mass invasion of migrant diamondback moths in 2016 showed how important it is to keep up-to-date with what is happening nationally and internationally with such a potentially devastating pest and we now have good evidence that it can survive our winter weather – in south-west England at least.”

Hosted by Syngenta, the Bulletin provides essential pest forecasts and up-to-date reports on most of the key field crop pests – indicating when infestations are likely to occur – to help growers make pest control decisions. Data is collected from around the UK, giving regional information and historical data to provide year-on-year comparisons of numbers.

Dr Collier said the relative cold of the last few weeks had delayed the development of some pests such as carrot and cabbage root flies. However, a few pests such as pollen beetles, bean seed flies and cabbage stem weevils had been on the wing for at least a couple of weeks.