The Return Of The Flying Ants

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jul 18th, 2013

It is that time of year where we get annoyed by flying ants – and again The Society of Biology is calling for records of flying ants to be submitted online to track them.

Currently a look around the usual places where they get up to their antics indicate they are yet to appear, however one resident of Acton has said they have come out in force there.

Last year they received over 6,000 reports of flying ants and hope to beat this in 2013. The 2012 flying ant survey unexpectedly revealed not one but two flying ant days.

Professor Adam Hart from the University of Gloucestershire is part of the 2nd year of the flying ant survey. He says: “Each summer flying ants erupt from the ground seemingly without warning, as new queens leave the nest to mate and found their own colonies.

“They often emerge simultaneously over large parts of the country, and many people know this as ‘flying ant day’, but we wanted to find out whether there really is one single day. Interestingly, in 2012 there were two main flying ant days, two weeks apart. But is this the same in other years?

“The time between the two peaks was a period of low pressure, which is usually associated with clouds, wind and rain. It could be that this weather kept some flying ants in their nests waiting for a suitable day, in which case we may not see the double peak again this year.”

Most flying ants we are seeing at the moment are the black garden ant (Lasius niger). Despite its size, the black garden ant has a huge impact on our countryside, from improving soil to pollination and pest control. They are also important as food; last year survey participants reported gulls and swifts feasting on the flying ants.

Much of what we know about ants comes from experiments which scientists can perform. Collecting information about ant emergences around the UK, however, relies on lots of people submitting their records.

The Society of Biology is asking everyone who sees flying ants in 2013 to make a note of the time, date, location and weather conditions, and submit records
through an online survey www.societyofbiology.org/flyingantsurvey.

To lighten you up if you do have some flying ants, we have compiled the following ant jokes:

Where do ants go for their holidays?
Frants!

What do you call an ant who skips school?
A truant!

What do you get if you cross ants with ticks?
All sorts of antics!

What do you call a greedy ant?
An anteater!

Why did the elephant put his trunk across the path?
To trip up the ants!

What is even bigger than an elephant?
A giant!

What medicine would you give a sick ant?
Antibiotics!

What do you call an ant from overseas?
Important!

How many ants are needed to fill an apartment?
Tenants

What do you call an ant who likes to be alone?
Independant

What is the biggest ant in the world?
Elephant