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Post by Atomfix on Aug 22, 2013 18:26:02 GMT
Just to let everyone know, on my way from walking home from work, that's all I could see was Queen Ants everywhere! Check outside and see if there's any wondering outside your door, I must have spotted at least 20 just outside my door step!
Good Luck!
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 22, 2013 18:30:48 GMT
Do you know what species they are Amdocn? Very possible the flying ants are a Myrmica species if they are red.  |
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 22, 2013 18:39:51 GMT
Do you know what species they are Amdocn? Very possible the flying ants are a Myrmica species if they are red. All I could see was the Black and 1 Yellow Meadow which I captured and stared a journal on, Most still had their wings and their were plenty without wings just wondering around |
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gas
Callow Ant 
Posts: 55 
Likes: 4
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Post by gas on Aug 22, 2013 18:43:07 GMT
Hey, two days ago I found a lot of Lasius sp. queens whereas yesterday I found a Myrmica sp. queen but she has still wings..
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 22, 2013 18:45:01 GMT
Quite a late flight for Lasius, as they have all flown in July here; but then the Welsh weather can be cooler around the mountains as Jenant knows well, and Myrmica do nest under stones higher up than Lasius in many parts of Britain.
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 22, 2013 18:49:51 GMT
Quite a late flight for Lasius, as they have all flown in July here; but then the Welsh weather can be cooler around the mountains as Jenant knows well, and Myrmica do nest under stones higher up than Lasius in many parts of Britain. Yeah, I kept an eye out on late July, we didn't get much rain, too much of this hot weather, but today has been really hot again, around 25C where I live. It seems they just all started coming out around this evening, which is cooler as you stated above. Strange eh? I'll see if I can get some photos.... that's if they are still outside my door step lol. Here's my captured queen by the way.  |
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 22, 2013 18:59:43 GMT
They are no longer outside my door step, but there's still quite a lot on the pavement, it's quite awkward getting a photo when there's people looking at you  |
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Post by Jonzii on Aug 22, 2013 19:06:22 GMT
I was going to post a similar thread tonight. The were winged queens pouring out of the L. niger nest that is in the wall at my work today, which I was quite shocked at with it being so late in the year. Plus this nest already had a big flight back in July.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 22, 2013 19:14:02 GMT
Have you guys had any heavy rain lately followed by high humidity? This is usually the key factor that triggers most flying ants.
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 22, 2013 19:37:17 GMT
No rain, but the humidity has been high in my area.
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Post by Jonzii on Aug 22, 2013 19:49:27 GMT
No, not really had rain here either. Has been quite hot and humid today though.
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Post by priestking on Aug 23, 2013 8:09:46 GMT
Same here in Birmingham yesterday evening. Lots of Lasius niger queens and males flying about. I caught 3 queens from an earlier flight back in July so was surprised that there was another nuptial flight so late on in the season. On a side note, I know the locations of some Lasius flavus nests and did walk past them at lunchtime yesterday but saw no winged ant activity so assume these nests have already had their nuptial flights.
And just to confirm, we didnt have any rain yesterday or the day before, just dry hot weather.
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Post by Atomfix on Aug 23, 2013 8:21:57 GMT
Same here in Birmingham yesterday evening. Lots of Lasius niger queens and males flying about. I caught 3 queens from an earlier flight back in July so was surprised that there was another nuptial flight so late on in the season. On a side note, I know the locations of some Lasius flavus nests and did walk past them at lunchtime yesterday but saw no winged ant activity so assume these nests have already had their nuptial flights. And just to confirm, we didnt have any rain yesterday or the day before, just dry hot weather. The Lasius Flavus I caught yesterday could of already had a nest and was maybe out foraging, but it was the only lone Flavus around. She doesn't look stressed anymore and she hasn't laid anything yet either, she's sitting comfortably next to the cotton where the honey water is. The chicken looks like its eaten, but not a lot of it though.
This Lasius Flavus queen I caught seems to be slightly smaller than the Lasius Niger queen I've got, is this normal? |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 23, 2013 8:35:11 GMT
Flavus queens are smaller than niger queens, so it is perfectly normal for this species. Odd that it didn't rain, but if the heat was very high with high moisture content in the air making it very humid, then this would trigger off any remaining alates to fly. It is often the case that many nests have 2 or 3 flights each year, as this gives a better chance of them spreading new queens around just in case earlier ones have failed to establish a colony; and as so many are eaten by predators, it pays not to put all your eggs in one basket to term a phrase of speech.  |
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