Flying Ants *2015 thread*

[spongy]

The nest just outside my patio doors has literally ERUPTED this evening with them!

Anyone else witnessing it? The swifts are having a field day. A pleasure to watch

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Remember swarms of them as a child in our garden but just like white dog turd I thought they were extinct.

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

Thousands have hatched this evening in west worthing.the blackbirds are having a feast.

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

Oh god, I forgot this was coming up again. The two nests (or one MAMMOTH one) either side if my path will be in full flow in the next few days I would guess

 

[Bozza]

Funny you should say that - I was sitting out on the grass in our back garden earlier and saw a big ant crawling around. It was probably a flying one that couldn't be arsed with the flying bit in this heat.

 

[super-seagulls]

Remember swarms of them as a child in our garden but just like white dog turd I thought they were extinct.

That's right, whatever happened to white dog turds?

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Not my knowledge, a white poo expert.

"White dog poop is the calcium left behind as the water evaporates, and the 'organic' components of the poop are consumed (in various ways) leaving the inorganic stuff behind.

But nowadays dogs don't eat as much bone as they used to, including bone meal. Also, tighter regulation on dogs crapping on pavements means that turds don't hang around for years in public places like they used to, giving them less opportunity to dry out and turn white."

 

[wellquickwoody]

Good call OP.

They will be up and running in full force if the hot weather continues. Basically the big, fat, lazy males (who are only good for sex and do no work) get kicked out when the weather gets hot and the female workers get bothered. If it is early in the season ( June) then most have not got wings, later in July and August they will mostly have grown wings. Either way they get eaten within 48 hours of emerging.

Tommorows forecasted rain might quieten them down until the next hot spell.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Too windy

 

[knocky1]

Good call OP.

They will be up and running in full force if the hot weather continues. Basically the big, fat, lazy males (who are only good for sex and do no work) get kicked out when the weather gets hot and the female workers get bothered. If it is early in the season ( June) then most have not got wings, later in July and August they will mostly have grown wings. Either way they get eaten within 48 hours of emerging.

Tommorows forecasted rain might quieten them down until the next hot spell.

it's a bit more gruesome with 20 year old sperm, exploding genitalia and a life spewing out baby ants. From yesterdays Independent:

'Flying Ant Day' is the layman’s term for the time in which the queen ants from various ant colonies emerge from their nest to begin their nuptial flight and look for male ants to mate with and begin new colonies.

The queen ant (usually the biggest winged ant you can find) will leave the nest with a number of male ants and begin their flight to try and find a suitable partner.

The queen and the male ants from the colony will then disperse to ensure that there is no cross breeding and, then, when far enough away from her worker ants the queen will release pheromones that are designed to attract frisky males.

However, it is not just a matter of meet up and get on with it, the spoils only go to the male ant that is game for the chase.

When a female finds an ant to mate with, she will try to engage in a bit of kiss chase, by flying away from her suitor. While this may seem like a bit of tomfoolery on the part of the queen, it is an essential part of selective breeding to ensure the female is able to mate with those male ants that are fit enough and fast enough to catch the queen.

Mating takes place during flight and males fertilise the sperm stored in the female’s abdomen, which in some cases can be as old as 20 years.

To do this, the male inserts his genitalia into the female to fertilise the egg. With the male's only purpose being this fertilisation, his genitalia gruesomely explodes in the female and he quickly dies after mating.

The queen lands to the ground, finds a colony and then spends a life lying on her side, eating and shooting out ant larvae to populate the new colony."

They then spend the next year putting black fly on my broad beans to farm them. Clever f***ers.

 

[Bozza]

My back garden has just gone flying ant crazy.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I for one welcome our new insect overlords