|
Post by Antkeeper on Jul 27, 2015 17:58:25 GMT
I have noticed in my garden, the Lasius niger male alates are getting frustrated now and are wandering the garden. At this rate there will be none left to fly...!
|
|
|
Post by Antkeeper on Jul 31, 2015 13:28:55 GMT
We have take off in London today! 2pm, the biggest swarm of Lasius niger I have seen in a while. This is a big flight! Probably the bad weather has kept them from local flights, so this is a big one. Lasius flavus might fly this evening.
|
|
|
Post by Antkeeper on Jul 31, 2015 14:56:25 GMT
Glad to report Lasius flavus are now flying in London. Lovely gold/yellow colour underneath, lighter brown colour on top and are a bit smaller than Lasius niger if you are out looking for them!
|
|
|
Post by chicken2012 on Jul 31, 2015 16:50:33 GMT
Well L.niger and L.flavus are flying here, with niger just finishing and flavus just starting. I've gotten my self 4 L.niger queens to found one colony this year, not going overboard with the amounts of queens I collect this year, and not even bothering with flavus.
|
|
|
Post by Jenny on Jul 31, 2015 18:22:55 GMT
I don't think it's warm enough here. No sign of flavus, they haven't even poked their heads out. Nigers have gone quiet to, gone to ground
|
|
huwby
Callow Ant
Posts: 57
Likes: 33
|
Post by huwby on Jul 31, 2015 19:16:29 GMT
still nothing in north Wales, you guys are lucky
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 7, 2015 13:12:37 GMT
We went shopping to our local Asda store an hour ago, and on the car park I saw a winged female ant on our car and a few more on the concrete of the car park. When we came out after about 25 minutes there were hundreds of both winged and de-alated new queens running around looking for nesting sites. As the car park in a huge bit of concrete and tarmac covered ground these new queens will have to go a long way to find some soil, as the car park covers roughly 1 square mile and only round the perimeter is there trees and gardens, so I wonder how many will actually make it to a suitable nesting site?
We did not collect any as we had our hands full of shopping bags, sadly saw some queens being squashed by shopping trolleys, and shoppers alike.
|
|
|
Post by chicken2012 on Aug 7, 2015 15:25:55 GMT
Flavus are swarming right now, however Lasius niger were not really a swarm, just a smattering of queens/drones. Unless that is, I missed their main flight which is entirely possible.
|
|
|
Post by Jenny on Aug 7, 2015 19:23:24 GMT
Flavus are finally flying here tonight. 7.30pm typical, they take ages to remove the wings to. A lot smaller than nigers, with a yellow glow in the sunlight. Light fading and too late to take photos.
|
|
|
Post by Antkeeper on Aug 7, 2015 19:28:53 GMT
Flavus are finally flying here tonight. 7.30pm typical, they take ages to remove the wings to. A lot smaller than nigers, with a yellow glow in the sunlight. Light fading and too late to take photos. Here in London the Lasius flavus flew at the same time. The males are tiny!! A few Lasius niger mixed in too. Now for the Myrmica rubra next!!
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 7, 2015 19:31:00 GMT
We did pick up about 21 Lasius flavus queens, 8 of which had removed their wings. The other queens had flown and landed, but as yet have not removed their wings so it is not certain if these have mated or not?
|
|
|
Post by antdemocracy on Aug 7, 2015 19:59:34 GMT
Haven't had chance to update recently as I'm abroad, but Lasius Niger flew in Cheshire last friday/Saturday 1st/2nd Aug. Didn't see any swarms, but found 8 Queens in my front and back garden. 3 had removed their wings, and the other 5 had not but were on the ground so I will have to wait and see whether or not they have mated. I took the advice of another member of this board and placed the 3 wingless queens in one test tube to give the colony a better chance of founding (thanks whoever it was). I feel a bit bad knowing 2 of the queens will die, but it will ensure that the colony gets off to the best possible start with the strongest queen. I hope to catch some Flavus queens. Hopefully they will still be flying for the next couple of weeks?
|
|
|
Post by Willow1218 on Aug 7, 2015 20:17:46 GMT
Lasius flavus and Lasius niger flew today in Bristol.
|
|
|
Post by Willow1218 on Aug 8, 2015 11:16:38 GMT
On two seperate occasions now I have seen wingless queens carrying a worker in her jaws. Does anyone know what they are doing?
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 8, 2015 11:21:41 GMT
On two seperate occasions now I have seen wingless queens carrying a worker in her jaws. Does anyone know what they are doing? Were the workers alive or dead? What ant species was the queen?
|
|