It’s not often that I manage to find both adult bugs and their nymphs at the same time but, during Saturday’s meander around local fields, I got lucky. These are Cyllecoris histrionius, members of the Miridae family, and they spend their lives on Oak trees. I’ve seen the adult bugs before, just not the young’uns.

There are a few plant bugs whose adults have markings quite similar to this one so care must be taken when identifying them, but it’s not too difficult. They are both carnivores and vegetarians, feeding on insects smaller than they are, like bark flies and aphids, as well as on parts of their host tree.

After laying their eggs, the adults die; they’re usually only seen from May through to July. In the Spring, the eggs hatch, and go through several stages (instars) before reaching adulthood. The gorgeous blue-green nymphs shown above are all final instars.