Wrexham Invaded by a ‘Swarm’ of Flying Ants

Wrexham has today been ‘invaded by a swarm of ants’ with thousands of the unwanted visitors causing a fair bit of annoyance to residents in the area.

Throughout the afternoon there have been a number of reports of in ‘invasion’ of flying ants in the Wrexham area, with places such as the town centre, Caia Park, the Wrexham Maelor car park and Garden Village seemingly seeing the worst of the insects today.

Flying ants generally appear when the weather warms up and often emerge simultaneously over large parts of the country. 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.

For most parts of the country, Flying Ant Day (as it’s become known) was last weekend – however a swarm of ants have made their way into Wrexham Town Centre and the surrounding areas today, resulting a fair bit of annoyance from shoppers and residents alike.

One Wrexham.com’er popped over to Eagles Meadow earlier on and said ‘They were everywhere, I literally had to brush them off my coat’.

Flying ants everywhere @wrexham Maelor Hospital car park!

— Wayne Roberts (@theponkeyman) August 7, 2015

@theponkeyman @wrexham they are taking over my drive. Looks like ground is moving

— smilerlovie (@smilerlovie) August 7, 2015

And in Garden Village! Yuk!!@theponkeyman @wrexham

— Tracy Jones (@tracyrethinkdo) August 7, 2015

Flying ant day in @Wrexham. #ants #flyingants #insects #itchy pic.twitter.com/uQ7gK1wVFm

— Jayne Rogers (@Jayniemo) August 7, 2015

@theponkeyman @wrexham In my garden too! Must be Flying Ant migration day or something!! I’m staying in 😯🐜🐜🐜🐥

— JudeMaloney (@JudeMal) August 7, 2015

Holy moly! @wrexham town centre is full of flying ants!! #notaeuphemism

— Nicky Nelson (@CanDoNicky) August 7, 2015

@wrexham swarms of flying ant around caia park keep your windows and doors shut

— Manicwelshgirl(Jay) (@jcm197733) August 7, 2015

@wrexham why so many flying ants in Caia park???!

— Smiler (@LewisBicky) August 7, 2015

Caught in a swarm of flying ants in @wrexham!! Aaargh and yuck and running away!!

— Caroline Jones (@moonshine17) August 7, 2015

The Society of Biology website states: “Flying ants often seem to appear on the same day in different locations in the UK – flying ant day. However, after three years of our flying ant survey, we’ve found that the day isn’t as predictable as we had at first thought – can you help us find out what happens this year?!

“Flying ants commonly appear on exactly the same day in different locations in the UK, but sometimes they come out over a period of days or even weeks. For the last three years we have been collecting records of flying ants, and this has revealed some surprising results.”

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