Now is the season to protect yourself and your home from flying ants, with millions of them taking to the skies in huge swarms.
While one or two can’t do any harm, seeing a huge swathe of them can be quite a disturbing sight – especially if you don’t like bugs.
The appearance of flying ants often follows incredibly hot weather.
Many wonder why the unpleasant phenomenon occurs and how it works, especially given it seems to change annually, although it usually comes sometime in July.
Here’s everything you need to know about the flying ant day phenomenon.
The phenomenon refers to a specific time in the summer months when young queen flying ants leave the nest to create their own colony and mate with male flying ants.
While commonly referred to as one specific day, the Royal Society of Biology found that there is no single day that ants fly all at once. They can estimate that it typically happens in July or August in the UK, however.
The winged ants appear at different times around the country – they tend to fly earlier in urban areas than rural areas because temperatures are generally warmer in towns and cities.
Why do flying ants appear?
Ants mate while they are flying because it increases their chances of reproduction. Following the mating, the queen will attempt to start a new nest before losing her wings.
The nests typically have 5,000 worker ants with a single queen, but this can expand to as many as 15,000 worker ants.
While the male ants usually die within a few days of mating, worker ants are all female and they typically live for a month. However, the queen ant can live for more than 10 years and will spend most of her life in the nest.
Upon finding a place for a new nest, the queen will burrow an underground chamber to nest in before laying her first eggs.
Once the larvae become adult ants, they’ll begin working and collecting food for the nest and to feed the queen.
Male ants are only produced during the flying ant season, according to the Royal Society of Biology, and they do not work.
Why does flying ant day happen when it’s hot?
Ant swarms are usually triggered by temperature, so the queen ants and males tend to leave the nest when the weather is hot and humid.
They take their nuptial flights in July or August, depending on when the weather is optimal, and this can vary between regions.
What are flying ants attracted to?
Like most flies, the pests are attracted to sweet things like honey and other treats.
If they are in your home, it could be because of open containers of food or food left out on surfaces.
In addition, dampness in your home could attract flying ants, as they seek moisture to take back to their colony.
When is flying ant day 2025?
Researchers from the Royal Society of Biology refute the notion that flying ants emerge on a single day every year.
With the current warm weather across the UK, flying ants could be set to swarm any day now – with some experiences lasting for days or even weeks in some areas.
It is a common misconception that flying ants only appear on one day every summer, but research conducted by citizen scientists has revealed that they can appear on multiple occasions over the course of the following weeks, with flying ant days occurring anywhere from mid-July to the end of August.
While there isn’t national coordination for the timing of the emergences, there is some cooperation that happens at the state level in relation to meteorological circumstances.
Flying ants will emerge on days when the temperature is over 25°C, there is little wind, and there is a possibility of rain in the near future.
It is not yet clear when the swarm will reach its peak, but many believe they have seen it begin already.
How long do flying ants live?
A queen’s lifespan is around 15 years, while worker ants live for roughly seven years (that’s if they can avoid predators and other dangers. For a reproductive male, the lifespan is much shorter at around two weeks once they have finished mating, they die.
There are two types of flying ants that bite, so if you’ve encountered one, chances are you’ve been bitted.
Black flying ants have weak mandibles that can’t bite through human skin, and they do not have a stinger. Red ants do have a stinger located on their abdomen, which they can use to deliver a painful, venomous sting if they feel threatened. Red ants also bite humans with their mandibles.
How do you get rid of flying ants?
Though flying season, doesn’t last long, you may want to get ahead of them to prevent bites. Ants can easily get inside a house so try to find their point of entry and block it up.
Other options include using things like dishwashing soap to dehydrate them, sticky tape to catch them or artificial sweeteners to poison them. You can also suck their nest up (if you can find it) with a vacuum cleaner.
In order to not attract them to your home, remove food debris from under kitchen units and appliances with a hoover and any spills of food or liquid should be cleaned up right away.
Whenever possible, keep your food in airtight containers.
Put away any food that isn’t consumed right away if you have a pet.
Verify that the lids on all trash cans are securely closed.
If the weather does get too warm, while keeping windows and doors open, installing a fly screen will keep flying ants out of your house. Any pheromone trails left by foraging ants to guide other ants to a food source should be cleaned up with a strong detergent.
Why are flying ants important?
Due to their abundance, flying ants are an excellent source of food for birds and are completely safe. They also recycle nutrients, aerate the soil, and serve as organic pest deterrents.
According to the Royal Society of Biology, flying ant days are essential to their life cycle and are used for mating. The females will attempt to establish a new colony by excavating a hole after landing.