Flying ant day

Looks like it's flying ant day today, as our back garden has erupted in a mass of ants. They're fascinating to watch, as they serge out of the ground, climbing over each other to crawl up the longest blade of grass (knocking each other off in the tussle) until one makes it to the top and flies off.

 

I think they're black garden ants and are a mixture of males and females that fly away from the nest in search of a mate from another nest. The males will die within a couple of days and the females will establish their own colonies.

In amongst all the black winged ants were a few smaller red ants (you can see one in the picture below) that seemed to be overseeing the launch site.

Interestingly we heard (but couldn't see) a green woodpecker in the garden earlier in the day. Wonder if it knew the ants were about to fly!

The Royal Society of Biology run a flying ant survey each year, trying to track when the ants fly around the country. We've reported our sighting and you can find out more at https://www.rsb.org.uk/get-involved/biologyweek/flying-ant-survey/.