Flying Ant Day 2021: When do flying ants come out – and how long do they live?

Each July 1000’s of large flying ants emerge from their nests on the identical time – a phenomenon referred to as Flying Ant Day

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Video exhibits a whole lot of flying ants swarm on automotive at Devon seaside

Each summer season, normally in July or August, you may immediately discover flying ants showing in all places within the UK.

This phenomenon is called Flying Ant Day – though it is complicated as a result of it would not truly occur on one explicit day yearly.

The dates change – and it is not normally simply at some point both. Confused? We’ll clarify.

In some unspecified time in the future through the summer season we all know we’ll begin to see large swarms of winged bugs throughout the UK.

To date there hasn’t been a lot point out of them – however as swarms of those bugs are widespread round this 12 months, we take a more in-depth have a look at the phenomenon and when it is more likely to occur.

What’s Flying Ant Day?

Flying Ant Day occurs when a younger queen leaves the nest to seek out their very own colony.

The swarms are made up of queen and male flying ants.

The queens will mate with the strongest males through the flight, earlier than touchdown and beginning their very own colonies at a brand new location.

Though dubbed Flying Ant Day, it normally occurs over a number of days, earlier than culminating in a date when folks discover a whole lot and 1000’s of swarms without delay.

When do flying ants come out?

Flying Ant Day would not occur on a selected day every year.

Nevertheless, final 12 months Flying Ant Day came about in most pasts of the nation on July 12.

It normally occurs in July as a result of hotter drier climate, generally after a interval of heavy rain.

Professor Adam Hart on the College of Gloucestershire stated: “The actually busy time appears to be across the third week of July, but it surely actually will depend on the climate.

“Generally we see the primary wave round Wimbledon and if the climate holds we will see emergences all through August.”

So there’s a likelihood flying ant day may occur very quickly.

How lengthy do the flying ants stay for?

The flying ants you see on Flying Ant Day are males and younger queens.

Males do not do any work within the ant nest, so as soon as flying ant day is over, they’ve served their goal.

They are going to solely go on to stay for a few days after the occasion.

That is why you are more likely to see a whole lot of useless ants alongside the pavements and automotive bonnets.

Nevertheless, the queens can stay for as much as 15 years, so they’ll go on to create their new ant colonies.

The excellent news is that they’ll solely spent a small period of time as winged, or flying ants.

Tips on how to do away with flying ants

Flying ants are identified for biting folks, however don’t fret, they cannot harm you.

The NHS web site says bites and stings are “typically innocent, though you may most likely really feel a nip.”

However, there are methods of eliminating them if wish to.

Listed here are some easy suggestions for eliminating flying ants.

1. Catch them with sticky tape

2. Use synthetic sweetener

3. Use insecticidal powder

If you wish to learn extra about easy methods to do away with flying ants, you may try our information.