Two pests at one blow!

I've been cutting some of the Rhododendron ponticum off the bank which separates us from the new house above and have been meaning to have a bonfire for a while. I opted for this afternoon as it was dry and with only a light breeze blowing away from both houses. 

Needless to say it turned drizzly and the wind changed, blowing the smoke directly towards our new neighbours. I went up to speak to her when she arrived home with the children and she was totally unfazed, so that was OK. It's always good to burn ponticum, villain that it is, but even more so when I could see the woolly blobs of Cottony Camellia Scale on the foliage, something that's becoming a major pest - lots of it at Arduaine and Inverewe and doubtless many in other places, to say nothing of all the ponticum in the countryside. Burn, pest!!