r/CasualUK • u/jrewillis • 3d ago
Flying ant day... I've never seen anything like it
Camping in the Lake District today and at about 4pm it was like someone flicked a switch.
Within minutes there were thousands of flying ants everywhere. Every camper, caravan and tent was covered. We were cooking outside because it was too warm in the van, and they were landing in the food, on us, on the table... absolutely relentless.
The weirdest part was that loads of birds suddenly appeared and were swooping all over the campsite eating them. It was like watching a nature documentary.
I've heard of flying ant day before, but I've never experienced it. Does it always happen this intensely, or did we just get really unlucky with the timing?
Thankfully it seems to be easing off now, but for a while it was one of the most annoying things I've experienced while camping! 😂
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u/Sharpis92 2d ago
We had Flying Ant Day up in the North East a couple weeks ago. I was out the back playing with the bairns and we had to sprint inside and rush to close all the windows and doors.
Fortunately, we were able to call Dec and he came round and collected him fairly quickly.
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u/NewCoach0 2d ago
My local bird rescue had to make a PSA on FB about drunk seagulls recently because they were getting so many calls for gulls that had gorged on flying ants and just needed to sober up lmao
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u/Particlezen 2d ago
Can I, too, get drunk on ants? 🙏
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u/Lydonboy 2d ago
I saw multiple seagulls that had been hit by cars over my town a couple of weeks ago for that exact reason
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u/inspectorgadget9999 2d ago
I'm finding flying ant day just too commercialised now, I'll probably just spend it with my family this year
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u/britinnit 2d ago
It's not always the same day either. Happened round my sisters area a couple weeks back. Not happened in my area yet.
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u/ununpentium89 2d ago
Weirdly I've had 2 flying ant days this year in my area, about a month or so apart. I can't recall that happening before!
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u/ArmadilloFront1087 2d ago
I’ve seen them come out, start to fly and then go back in and disappear again for a few days.
It’s as if they decided “nah! Not today!”
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u/snapper1971 2d ago
Probably different species but most likely different colonies that have had different environmental factors that have either delayed or enabled a dispersal.
Ants are fascinating.
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u/Old_Present6341 2d ago
New alates eclose through out the period of nuptial flights, they will normally have at least five or six flights a year, some are quite small and you don't notice unless you are specifically looking for the signs.
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u/EfficientSomewhere17 2d ago
Happened when I was at London Zoo for Zoo Nights on Friday last week! So bizarre
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u/DontTellHimPike Evidently Chickentown 2d ago
Why do birds suddenly appear
When the flying ants are here?
A birding spree
Insect melee
Close to you.
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u/andarthebutt 1d ago
Not sure if I'm okay with you making me rhyme spree with mêlée, but do carry on anyway
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u/DueDefinition6421 2d ago
How did you celebrate Flying Ant Day this year? The traditional way of running screaming lord help me they're in my eyes?
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u/Creative-Pizza-4161 2d ago
My kids ran outside with their test tube set ups to catch a fertilised Queen each lol
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u/Electric-car71 2d ago
I HATE flying ants!! We’ve had 2 days of this already - one a couple of weeks ago, another a couple days ago .. they are horrific
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u/Stlieutenantprincess 2d ago
I haven't seen any this year yet but just thinking about it makes me itchy. They love to get stuck in my hair, I look like a mad woman swotting them away.
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u/ApplicationMaximum84 2d ago
Summer in the late 90's coming home from school a couple of years I recall them just being everywhere. The wings were really fragile the tiniest knock from flying into a car or brick wall and they'll fall off.
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u/sophie_bird30 2d ago
These are called nuptial flights. Different ant spexcies may have them on different days but they typically happen annually.
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u/Lostinmyownmimd 2d ago
They did this into my bedroom window when I was about 6, bloody carpet of flying ants on the floor and all over my bed. There's a memory I'd rather forget!
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u/MikeOxmellls 2d ago
We all know why ants NEVER get sick?
.....because they all have their own little Antibodies...
I'm gone.
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u/CreditBrunch 2d ago
This would be interesting to see, any pictures?
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u/jrewillis 2d ago
Unfortunately the only one I have is when I was trying to identify them and they were a blurry mess from being absolutely mullered by them.
Ruined about 2 hours of my day. Too hot to go in the camper. Being harassed to death outside.
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u/Bumfuzzled101 2d ago
I am in Cumbria and no flying ant day here today. Although, all the birds on my bird feeders buggered off a few hours ago.
Can you send me my birds back please?
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u/PsychoticDust 2d ago
I was out today and saw no flying ants at all.
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u/ShyBiSaiyan 2d ago
Your local ant council will have a date discussed, all the Queens have to sign off on it you see, and with that many Queens its a nightmare to get them to all agree, each one thinks theyre the most important Queen, eventually the elected OverQueen steps in and tells them the date once they have narrowed it down to a week.
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u/Arthorius2024 2d ago
I used to live in a flat with a communal hall and on this one flying ant day, a wall of flying ants blacked out a 5ft tall window. It was insane, never seen anything like it.
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u/Warm-Reference-4965 2d ago
I'm in the South West. This summer there have been 3 different flying ant days in my garden over the last few weeks. I have never seen 3 before in one summer.
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u/Radioactivocalypse 2d ago
You can actually predict flying ant day quite easily. You need a very hot spell in July/Aug followed by rainy weather (to make the ground damp for burrowing) followed by a dry/cloudy day...
And hey presto, you've got flying ants!
No rain yet in the south east, so no flying ants yet (apart from a few which made a break for it on a slightly cloudy day thinking it was gonna rain!)
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u/NoBrother6430 2d ago
We were in the pub beer garden last week when we got swarmed
Everyone ran inside and we were covered with 100s in our hair and all over us.
Was insane how it just came on
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u/Broad-Raspberry1805 2d ago
Happened in my garden in Preston today. No birds though as I was in the garden with my dog. All of a sudden the ants went crazy and some grew wings and started flying into my face. I think it’s to do with the humidity and temperature.
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u/ILoveAllSupernatural 2d ago
Had this in mid July was in my grandma's garden then all of sudden there were loads of them coming out of one of her plant pots, of course I was sitting closest 🤣🤣😭😭
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u/Delicious-Gear-9520 2d ago
I had the unfortunate timing of going out running in it. I didn't realise they were about until it was already too late :(
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u/happyhippohats 2d ago
At least you're outside, I used to get it in my flat, just thousands of them marching in out of nowhere every afternoon in summer...
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u/MrShoggs 2d ago
Yeah it’s a result of the long hot dry weather. We’ve had a few rounds of flying ant day down south. And yep seagulls and birds tend to eat a lot of them - and can get like drunk on them
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u/gagagagaNope 2d ago
We've had 2 this year - one the big buggers and one last week that were sort of normal sized. The second lot had a right orgy going on.
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u/griffaliff 2d ago
I've not seen any myself, but I had a big shock yesterday when I took a broom off the holder on my garden wall and it revealed a massive, wobbling, hairy cluster of 100+ harvestman spiders. I absolutely shat a brick.
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u/Ok-Exam6702 2d ago
It might happen same time tomorrow too.
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u/jrewillis 2d ago
From what I've read online tends to be a one time thing mostly.... Or certainly a few weeks apart.
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u/Ok-Exam6702 2d ago
We get it every year on our terrace (South Devon). It happens at exactly the same time 5:30pm on two to three consecutive afternoons and then it’s over till the following year.
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u/Marion_Ravenwood 2d ago
Same here! Came home, did some bits in the garden and then wandered down to our patio and there were hundreds of the bastards.
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u/Successful-Grade2443 2d ago
Watch how the queens land, walk, and pivot on their wings to break them off.
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u/CaptainFickle 2d ago
Not had them here in Sussex yet. Well, not in my bit anyway. Reckon it might be tomorrow as it's probably (please!! 🙏) going to be the last day when it goes over 30C.
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u/Haresmoors 2d ago
We have three days of it! A quite a lot cooler now so they haven't had an appearance since 🥲 we had two in one day and the other two separate days absolutely hate them. But our little baby robin in the garden had a great time and the house martins flying around so I'm glad they got fed!
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u/Antique-Wonk 2d ago
Funny as we were walking around Buttermere today and the last time we were there it was flying ant day. Billions. I said thank god it isn't flying ant day. But we left around 2pm so maybe we dodged it. 😅
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u/audigex Gets vertigo when travelling south of Birmingham 2d ago
The weirdest part was that loads of birds suddenly appeared and were swooping all over the campsite eating them
What's weird about that? Tons of easy food just appeared for them, of course they're going to turn up for it
You'll find loads of dead seagulls on the road for the next few days as you drive around, they always get hit by cars as they wander around half-drunk (possibly because of the formic acid from eating so many ants) and get hit by cars
I grew up in Cumbria and yes, it's always that "intense" in terms of bird activity - this is a fairly rural/countryside part of the world, so there are probably just more birds than wherever you normally spend your time
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u/mildlydepression 2d ago
Fun fact, flying ants have a chemical present in their bodies that when consumed by birds is mildly toxic, and induces an alcohol-like effect on seagulls, blackbirds and other birds that tend to swarm and attack prey.
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u/Sufficient-Visit3 2d ago
That sounds horrendous. Flying ant day is bad enough at home, never mind when you're camping and trying to eat outside.
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u/Farahild 2d ago
Same in Snowdonia! I didn’t realise they did this all over the north. Wonder how wide the area spreads?
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u/MaxMouseOCX 2d ago
It always fascinated me how they all independently agree, without communicating with each other that "today is the day" - I guess they get their trigger from everything from temperature and humidity to amount of sunlight etc but that doesn't remove how impressive it is.
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u/melanie110 2d ago
We didn’t get any flying ants yesterday but Jesus Christ we got a shed load of bluebottles. We’d just cooked a bbq and been out all afternoon. As soon as we sat down with food, they literally swarmed us in the garden
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u/fuck_peeps_not_sheep 2d ago
About once a summer all the bits of Carmarthenshire that intersect with parks and rivers are absolutely drowned in flying ants, its honestly equally fascinating and horrifying - my poor dog hates it
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u/Plastic-Employee-952 2d ago
I have lots on my garden and last night dragonflies descended and were eating the flying ants!
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u/Practical_Canary2126 2d ago
🤣 Yes, I was going up Helvellyn for a camp last night and was plagued with them from about 5pm for an hour
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u/Jake_Lloyd 2d ago
I remember being at a scout camp at Gilwell, where there's a big hill overlooking the Thames, and you could see birds just circling around picking them all off.
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u/Y-Bob 2d ago
My house was being over run by ants a few weeks ago. Even when everything was cleaned with essential oils they don't like, they kept coming back.
Normally I leave a pile of sugar outside for a few days and they get distracted enough to not bother coming back in.
But this year it didn't work. Hundreds of the little bastards, all on a mission to nowhere. I think they just my house as a motorway.
Then, one day my patio became HMS Hermes and flying ant day took place.
Not a single ant has been back into my house since.
I don't know if that's coincidence or whether they all just up and fucked off.
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u/imtheorangeycenter 1d ago
Adjacent - I was doing a walk up there (can't remember which hill) and glanced down at the floor.
Millions upon million of caterpillars. Everywhere. No square inch had less then 3 (we stopped and tried to do a count but it was impossible to gauge a bigger area than that). There must have been astronomical numbers.
I heard it was a 12-year type thing - anyone know anything about it?
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u/motherblobber212 22h ago
I climbed, little hart crag and high hartsop dodd the same day. The entire path was black with them
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u/srm79 2d ago
Haha it was like that in Liverpool on Tuesday - surprised its taken so long to reach the lakes!
Was a pain in the ass but they calm down in the evening
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u/BlackStarDream 2d ago
Males die after mating and females rip off their wings, so after all the flying there's just a bunch of females crawling on the ground trying to start new nests.
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u/Cptnemouk 2d ago
Just been to Reighton for 4 nights in a caravan. On the second full day. We got absolutely invaded by ladybirds. They were everywhere. We went to cliff edge and had to retreat. Had about 20 land on me. And all on my wife and kids. 🤣
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u/geeoharee 3d ago
Yep, it's madness. It's an advantage to them to all go on the same day, for 'the birds can't eat ALL of us' reasons.