Swarm!!!

Well something must have clicked yesterday, weather conditions, planetary alignment lol :D, I don't know but every ant nest in our back garden, including some I wasn't aware of, produced thousands of flying ants. It was that bad that they were literally covering everything before taking flight, the hose pipe, pots, the fences, my son's slide...when they did take flight it was like a swarm of mini locusts....and then justice was served.............................the local bird populations had a feast; it was then like a scene from Hitchcock's The Birds :D

 

comet elenin is passing earth's orbit soon ....

interesting times ahead

:OUCH:

 

Yeuk! It's bad enough having to garden on sandy soil and finding the revolting little blighters crawling about everywhere, but when the queens and their mates grow wings and swarm off and start new colonies, it's truly disgusting. I can deal with slugs, snails, green/black fly and spiders in the garden, but ants ......

 

When we went out for our evening walk last night we had loads of them taking to the air on the paths and lots more crawling around in groups getting ready for the off i should imagine:DThere must be as you say something to do with the weather or the date that triggers them off if other members are finding the same thing.The starlings were having a field day picking them off as they took to the air lol :yess:

 

The ants all seem to come out from different colonies so that they can have a chance to meet and interbreed, they choose a day where the humidity, wind speed and temp is just right, some think its a timed event where ants communicate to each other to do this.
Not a good idea to be out when this day happens, but the birdies are happy though

 

in South Africa, whn the flying ants appeared, you were certain of heavy rain the following day

we used to eat the flying ants when I was in boarding school .... you only ate the torso ... tasted like butter

 

I always look upon it as a sign of Summer, I kind of like to see all those ants in the air on a humid afternoon.

Its just nature doing what comes natural, I cant ever remember being bitten by a flying ant.

Not seen starlings take any interest in them around here, its mostly the gulls that circle above almost like vultures.:D

 

Whoa, i've never seen swarms of flying ants, we only get a little few ants crawling around here. Hope to never see that actually!

 

ants are pants

I too lived in south africa as a boy and remember the flying ants. thousands of them. we swatted them with tennis rackets to try keep them at bay whilst we went about our adventures, searching for chameleons, lizards, bugs and such-like in the gardens.
ahhh. memories.

talking of ants. my father in law has just about had enough of them in his greenhouse in whitby.
hes tried boiling water, talc type repellant and baiting stations without much success.:gaagh:

what is the answer to finally getting rid of them?

happy gardening

greenthumbs75

 

speaking of bugs, worked in a garden today, and saw loads of small grasshoppers?

 

Shiney we have swarms of the little so and so's under the window ledges outside our conservatory and when Mr Kandy checked there is a little tiny hole so we have had to spray the area with ant powder and then will have to seal up the hole where they get in and out or else our cavity will be home to millions of them.It must just be the right time for them all to take flight all over the country:gaagh: