But somehow we still get bewildered to see lots of them.
Advertisement
Past year because of the long warm summer there were several waves of flying ants.
Nursery worker left child in minibus for two hours on hottest dayExperts warned it was a “feeding frenzy” for seagulls but it could actually leave them more “shirty” than usual. The flying ants you see once a year are males and young queens.
More information about flying ants is available on the society’s website.
This is how people felt about sleeping last night’Some people believe they are getting drunk on the formic acid, but they are basically coming down to the ground and getting a bit shirty as the ants disappear.
The winged ants stay in colonies until it is dry and hot weather that defines the flawless weather condition for them to fly and reproduce.
They then lead the males they have attracted on a chase to ensure only the fittest get to mate.
The heatwave has seen clouds of the insects take flight this week as queen ants emerged from hiding in search of mates pursued by millions of male drones.
Technically Flying Ant Day can cover four or five days depending on the weather.
It’s fairly normal this time of year for it to happen because of the weather conditions. “They are simply regular ants – probably black garden ants – that develop wings during the mating season and then mate during flight”.
Flying ant day is the day of the year when Queen ants and males sprout wings and take off to mate in mid air.
Once the males and immature queens have mated mid-air, the queens lose their wings and start a new nest underground.
Monday was dubbed “Flying Ant Day” because the high temperatures caused swarms of the insects to appear across the country.
This is because the summer months bring along with them the “nuptial flight” phase of ant reproduction – more specifically the phase when winged ants fly away from their colony and start a new one elsewhere.
The day, dubbed Flying Ant Day, occurs when their is the ideal mix of hot, humid weather as the heat makes it easier for them to fly, while the humidity makes the ground softer for landing.
Advertisement
Usually, it happens at the end of July or the beginning of August.
