Flying Ant Day

If I was a betting man I might have had a few quid that it was going to happen today but it seems that I would have lost that bet.

There are a few days of the year that I really look forward to not withstanding, Christmas, Easter and my birthday, although to be honest I don't really look forward to my birthday much. These other days cannot be predicted too far in advance, they can't be pinned down to an exact date and sometimes they don't materialise at all.

The first two relate to the weather, I love a really good thunderstorm, the type that makes the windows shudder with the boom of the thunder and the way the wind suddenly picks up and the rain hammers down. The second is that all important first snow day. The excitement when the curtains are opened and there is the perfect winter wonderland scene, it's still snowing; the phone call comes with the message not to bother travelling to work. Priceless. Of course everyone loves the first snow day, it's the subsequent ones that quickly lose their appeal.

Overwhelmingly my favourite is a third unpredictable day which involves the miracle of nature and the tiny humble ants. It is of course FLYING ANT DAY. Now the thing about flying ant day, like the other two days is that it is not a countrywide phenomenon but it is a fantastic local event.

It is most likely to occur at the end of July into early August. The weather is all important. Often the ants start to swarm on a humid still warm day (mid 20's) following a colder damper day. All of a sudden from early afternoon large bodied ants with impressive wings start to crawl out of cracks and holes in paths, gardens and walls and start taking to the air. This behaviour enables the larger colonies to split and migrate allowing new ant nests to be established. Sometimes this is quite an amazing sight.

I thought that conditions were just right today for this insect spectacle to occur. I had seen some evidence of winged ants just yesterday as I disturbed a nest in my compost bin (see picture), but now late in the day the ant attack has failed to show. Perhaps it was a bit windy...perhaps not humid enough...perhaps the ants are just waiting to surprise us?

Maybe it will happen tomorrow...

Please comment with your Flying Ant Day experiences, I would love to hear about them.

Comments

  1. Anonymous23 July 2012 at 21:35

    Flying ants in drowning catastrophe...... At least 30 flying ants were found dead in Worthing in a hot tub today. After escaping the Nippon ant powder they flew to their wet death in 4 ft of 36 degree bubbling water....... The queen ant was not available for comment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous24 July 2012 at 00:16

    Flying ants are horrid. I find ant powder stops their attempt to decolonize :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous24 July 2012 at 00:16

    Oops colonise!

    ReplyDelete

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