flying ants

[bubbles4920]

There have been loads of flying ants in our garden today, yak! where do they suddenly come from as we dont see them very ofen and also do they sting?

[skyep]

bubbles4920 - We have flying ants in Manchester. Anybody else have them & where?

[SteveD]

This is from 2004. They don't sting, but can give a small bite:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3934591.st m

[willowman]

I hate ants with a passion and this time of year I am on edge all the time waiting for them to swarm. They all seem to know the right day to fly the nest, and all come out together. So I patrol the garden and house armed with ant powder. At the first sign I cover the nest entrance with powder so that any emerging ants get some on them and hopefully expire before they can start new nests.
Problem is, although I hate them I have a certain admiration for them. They are very clever, work as a community for the good of the whole nest and they will still be around long after we have exterminated ourselves.
I once read that, of all the animal species in the world, only ants and humans wage war on their own species.

[lizwizz]

Maybe they're not so clever after all willowman

[lilacben]

We live in Somerset and I saw some flying ants yesterday as well. It used to be the sign we was going to have a storm. My mum used to call them storm ants.

[Champagne]

They always crop up at this time of year but have a very short life cycle. I was always intrigued by them when I was a little girl. I remember having to give an im promptu speech on ants in class when I was about 11 years old. I spoke for 2 minutes and at one point mentioned flying ants. The Headteacher told me afterwards that I was wrong and that they didn't exist! The idiot!

[Ethel]

Further to champagne, the males have a very short lifespan and die after mating.

The females wings drop off, they make nests, lay eggs and next year the babies swarm and the whole cycle starts again.

[bexta]

I had loads yesterday too, they came out of holes inbetween my paving but it looked like they had pushed through loads of sandy earth to the surface also.
i poured bleach on it all then left it a while and then hosed it away, seemed to get rid of them!

[jas1002]

see also this from yesterday. Seem like the ants all came out at the same time.

www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals_and_Nature/Question261786.html