MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
Just got back from a walk with the dog and feel like I've been trapped in a scene from Stranger Things. The road was crawling with them, the air was think with them, I was covered in them, the dog was covered in them.
*Shudder*
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh
That was our bike ride homeward back from Lincoln. Not going very fast at all, and felt like we were in a hail storm. Had to stop several times to de-bug 🤮
On holiday in Dorset, epic flying ant day. Bloody everywhere. Didn’t notice them after the cider stop though…
I have a lot of ants in my garden and see the occasional flying ant. Last year I happened to be sat outside at the exact time they emerged from the ground. There was about a 30 minute period where they just seemed to be coming out the ground everywhere, and not just where I knew there were ant nests. It was genuinely weird how they all knew to coordinate their 30 minute attack, after the 30 minutes they were all gone.
Was starting just as I got home tonight - front lawn and rear patio absolutely heaving.
Got me out of mowing the lawn tonight though.
Funny this. They were bad here in North Notts (somewhere between morecash and fazzini) a fortnight ago. Probably could do with a entomologist to explain their life cycle and why they all appear at once in certain areas. They don't hurt, but they're sure annoying.
We’re on holiday in mid Wales and the bastards were everywhere this afternoon.
We’re in the middle of nowhere and there are hundreds of sparrows and swifts nesting in the trees around us. It’s fair to say they took full advantage of their sudden all-you-can-eat buffet. It was like letting me loose in Greggs!
Just been hit by them.
Definitely flying ant day today here in SW Devon too!
Gazillions of them at FoD tonight
Loads at Cwmcarn, my brother’s place in Cardiff and at home too in Aberporth (according to my wife). Aren’t they delightful!
They were bad here in North Notts (somewhere between morecash and fazzini)
Imagine a map of the UK/world showing all the STW members....
yep cycled through a cloud this evening
and....
https://twitter.com/Met4CastUK/status/1689357498161991682?t=dWj_nsweYurJqZKLoC3l3w&s=19
Yep, flying ant day up here in Inverness yesterday.
Same here (midlands). Stopped at the top of a climb yesterday evening, looked down with helmet light on and it looked like the pea gravel I was stood on was alive. Quite the phenomenon.
The patio... it's alive... with...THEM!
I have a lot of ants in my garden and see the occasional flying ant. Last year I happened to be sat outside at the exact time they emerged from the ground. There was about a 30 minute period where they just seemed to be coming out the ground everywhere, and not just where I knew there were ant nests. It was genuinely weird how they all knew to coordinate their 30 minute attack, after the 30 minutes they were all gone.
Exactly that yesterday, just sat outside pretending it was summer when a stream of them erupted from a crack in the mortar between two flags and started advancing up my chair leg. Beat a hasty retreat indoors. Three minutes later there was a cloud of the buggers. Thirty minutes after, they were all gone.
I think they use bluetooth to coordinate, it's a bit like chucking out time in Newcastle 😉
Loads on mam tor last night
But luckily none this morning
Indeedy it was flying ants day in the W. midlands too, last night. Thought the guy onto top of the edge was over reacting about a flying few ants, then spent the rest of the ride, riding through clouds of them.
Yup, flying ant day in S Bucks too yesterday. How do they do it?
flying ant day yesterday at the newly refurbed ossett brewery pub at horbury bridge 'bingley arms'
i'm now covered in very itchy lumps today, i didnt think they bit..
i’m now covered in very itchy lumps today, i didnt think they bit..
They don’t.
So far, this year I’ve seen two.
Was also flying ants day in South Yorkshire. Had to evacuate the garden early last night as couldn’t put up with them. Not one to be seen today. But of a shit existence if you’re only allowed out once a year.
The very top of Yr Elen was no place to hang around at lunchtime today. 100 yards away, in a slight breeze, no problem at all.
Went to a BBQ in the mountains a few days ago and after it turned dark I went and sat on a couch outside to listen to the peace and quiet. Must have been a nest nearby because some carpenter ants had started crawling over it in the dark and didn't like being sat on. One bit me between the top of the underside of my thigh and my bum!!! That burnt/itched for a while.
We saw some whilst walking up Beinn Eighe a couple of weeks ago - not hordes of them, but enough to notice. Do they emerge at significantly different times across the UK?
Yep, I managed to swallow one at Cwmcarn today!
Is it the moon?
Days like today make me love swallows even more.
The Natural History Museum’s website has some fantastic information about ants, sorry I can’t link, the appearance of the flying ants is connected with the weather and is to do with mating and establishing new colonies. The queens can live for many, many years, the males about a week. Read the article, it’s good to learn!