Flying Ant Day 2017 appears to be here – and people in Gedling borough are on the alert.
“Flying Ant Day” is the day of the year when the queen ant of each colony suddenly spouts wings and then takes off.
The problem is that due to the queen having to mate in mid-air, the males ALSO have to sprout wings to chase after her.
The event usually occurs at the end of July or the beginning of August, but as ants usually only sprout wings when there is little chance of rain, people believe the recent warm weather has caused it to happen THIS WEEK.
So what actually happens?
“Flying Ant Day” is the unofficial term for the day on which this phenomenon takes place.
The queen ants from each colony emerge from the nest simultaneously and then fly off to mate.
Each queen is often accompanied by a number of flying males from the same nest.
All the queen ants fly around, some for miles, other a for a few metres, and then attempt to mate with the flying males from the other colonies in mid-air.
After mating successfully, the ants then lose their wings and drop suddenly to the ground. Once on back on the ground, the queen ant will then attempt to start a new colony wherever she lands.
The phenomenon occurs in most colonies simultaneously when the local weather conditions are right and the queens have the best chance of mating with males from other colonies.
We learnt something new today – we hope you did too!
- Spotted any swarm of ants across the borough? Send your pictures to news@gedlingborough.co.uk
