[ID] Plant bug ?

[Action_Man]

I found this wandering up my kitchen wall, and i gave it a drop of honey so i could take its picture (4mms) ...

[Wild-Woman]

Lucky bug! Good shot too.

[Jason Green]

Yes, well done. People feed birds now due to a lower availability of natural food, but not often insects as you've done.

I'm currently looking after a hoverfly that's been affected by the cold and seemed to have frozen in bad weather. I took it in and gave it a few grains of sugar and it went for them as if it hadn't been able to visit a flower for days!!!

[Bruce Williams]

Nice clean shot - worth second clicking to see the higher resolution image.

Bruce

[squishy]

definitely a nymph of a true bug.

what a touching story jason!

there are alot of easy ways to help your garden insect life, like putting up bee and ladybird boxes that they can overwinter in (and and you can watch out for harlequin ladybirds ( ) in your area)

[Acutipuerilis]

So predators have a sweet tooth too..! This is an anthocorid bug nymph, probably Anthocoris itself. They spend most of their time sucking the middles out of aphids... but I guess honey isn't that dissimilar.

[Action_Man]

Thanks for the ID, is it whats known as a Coreid bug ? .

And yes it did like the honey, it spent quite some time sucking it up ...

[Acutipuerilis]

No, coreids are the squashbugs or leatherbugs - things like the big brown Dock Bug. These are the flower bugs - little shiny black/brown/whitish things you find all over the garden. Very common, and sometimes used deliberately to control things like aphids. There are bound to be some pictures of Anthocoris nemorum in the Gallery.

I know aphids (or at least honeydew) are a delicacy in some places, so it's not just the ants. Think I'll give them a miss, though!