Flying ants..

[tomtom]

while sitting at the dinner table this evening we looked out and saw literally hundreds of flying ants.. you couldnt venture outside with out getting a hair full! it was amazing they appeared and were gone with in 90mins...

my cosin(sp) came down from london today and he said theirs went up 2 days ago... has anyone else seen then... if so when?

 

[Simon]

They have been about for the last few days ... I think they are taking turns ... are they good eating for you bushcraft types? .. cause i just get my badminton racquet out and have a smashing time

 

[bothyman]

We get them every year they stay for the day, Thousands of them .
You sometimes get a line of them marching along the road.
We just have to shut everything up and stay inside they bite like hell.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Last weekend they were all over in Paris.

Here, the ants' nuptial flight is often a sign that the weather is going to turn thundery. It didn't happen this time, though the weather has become very close (30°C for the last two days, and high humidity but no storms yet).

I expect to see another flight down in the South West around 13 - 17 August, and there will be a thunder storm.


Keith.

 

[Tony]

I was sitting in the car on Monday in Southport when I saw these women franticly waving their arms.......Then I drove into the ants, thousands of them and I suppose they were over an area of about a mile.....I don't think I saw them last year but I remember being in the middle of them a few times in years past, and being taken in from the school playground when they turned up...

 

[Batfink]

Yep. Our friendly ant collonies have all swarmed over the last 3 days. It really is amazing to watch!

I similar thing happened with a wasps nest on Monday - I've known about the nest for sometime (but have kept it a secret for fear of the inlaws trying to burn them out!) and have regularly watched them coming and going. Then, on Montag, they were all swarming, several hundred of them just milling around, not agressively, but just hovering, then, within a few seconds they all descended into the hole in the ground! Absolutely fantastic! Never seen it before!!!

 

[Simon]

This reminds me of watching the unspeakable TV bloke digging in to an ants nest and throwing everything on to a Tarp with curled up corners where the ants all carried their lavae and he promtly fried the lavae up with butter and garlic ... yummy

 

[RovingArcher]

Last July as the wife and I were camping in an isolated area near a small river, a swarm of wild bees decended on the area. hundreds of bees drove us into our tent for about 20 minutes. They came to rest on a small Sycamore on the edge of our camp and formed a huge living mass in the young tree. The next morning they took to wing and headed west into the dense forest. It was a spectacular event for us.

While in the same camp, we noticed that there was a nest of bats in a dead tree not far from us and we would watch them appear in the opening and take to wing as the sun started to set. Near a hundred bats would swoop and dart here and there looking for their insect meals.

 

[Burnt Ash]

I've seen flying ants in Hastings (Monday) and Tunbridge Wells (Thursday) this week.

'Falls' of flying ants can make for some fabulous fly fishing and the keen summertime fly fisher should always have a couple of flying ant imitations tucked away in the fly box. Trout (and other fish) turn on to these insects almost immediately. On occasions I've found myself surrounded by rising fish when, only a minute before, there was not a sign. That is actually pretty extraordinary since ant 'falls' occur only occasionally during the course of the season. The fish seem to have a real liking for them.

Burnt Ash

 

[Stuart]

I was in a locust swarm in saudi arabia, that was pretty increadable they ate everything nothing green was left.

millions and millions of them you could drive anywhere

then the Saudi goverment started spraying them all with insecteside and thing just got worse now instead of flying around you they were half blind so they flew stright into you!!! and they hurt!

the clean up took forever

 

[BorderReiver]

They have been about for the last few days ... I think they are taking turns ... are they good eating for you bushcraft types? .. cause i just get my badminton racquet out and have a smashing time

The type that occur in South Africa are edible.Don't know if ours are the same genus. :?:

 

[Batfink]

While in the same camp, we noticed that there was a nest of bats in a dead tree not far from us and we would watch them appear in the opening and take to wing as the sun started to set. Near a hundred bats would swoop and dart here and there looking for their insect meals.

That reminds me of my time in Africa! We stayed at a oh-so-typical westernised campsite at Bujagali falls (soon to be swamped under a new dam tis a crying shame!). Anyways, in the middle of the river there (the River Nile for those geographically challenged) was an island with really tall trees, and whose floor was entirely white. Every evening the fruit bats who roost in the trees would, flock and head off to the nearest fruit farm for a quick harvest! It was amazing site - hundreds of thousands of them.

The best bit was the crapper was a long drop, but it looked out over the river and the island. It only had a half height curtain, so you could sit on the seat and have the most amazing view whilst you did your personal admin!!! Lovely!!!

The bat scene is almost captured in this photo - except for thats a 5 degree snapshot - this went on the full 360 degrees around the photographer!!! Truely awesome!!! :super:

 

[Ed]

There were a few flying ants out last night.... but no swarms like there usually are.... maybe we are in for it today ...


Ed

 

[Batfink]

Do the flying ants provide an indication of the weather??? Anybody do bio-meteorology (is that even a subject???) on here???

 

[dtalbot]

Last year it was the second week of Aug I came across them on about a 4 mile stretch of the Pembs coast path, millions of them and nothing to do but walk faster :yikes:

 

[den]

Loads around Bristol today

 

[RovingArcher]

Do the flying ants provide an indication of the weather??? Anybody do bio-meteorology (is that even a subject???) on here???

There are flying ants in the mtns that border California and Nevada. Quite large in size compared to even the timber ants that are prevalent in the same area and which are an excellent bait for stream trout in the area. Caught several by bouncing a fly (ant) off a rock and letting it drop to the water on the edge of a deep pool. Anyways, the flying ants take to flight in July/August and it usually brews up a good thunderstorm in the same time period. They bite like the dickens too.

BTW, great photo of the bats.

 

[Batfink]

BTW, great photo of the bats.

I'm afraid I can't take the credit for that! I came across them on somebody elsees website!