More mating flights in South England this summer?

[shaunus]

Hi,
got the email about needing to keep the forum going, so I will make an effort to post when I can, plus I have ants on the way, so it gives me more of a reason to do so.

My quick question is: for those of us on here whom reside in the south east of England (which could possibly be a lot of people) will know that it being the 23rd of August marks the 100th day of grey clouds and no sun ;D. OK, maybe a bit O.T.T, but my point is, it has been *** awful here, we had a decent spring and early summer, but then nothing, and during the early summer we all witnessed the mating flights, but today, for the first time, I saw the sun . And then I saw a winged insect on the highstreet pavement. Then I looked down and identified it as a L. flavus! But, it was nearly 8.00pm, and would have been silly to carry it back to my house, especially as it might not have been mated.

So, as you could probably tell, I want to know the likelyhood of there being more mating flights of varying species in this region, due to lack of time with decent weather. Hopefully more L. flavus, as my previous lady died:(.

The weather is supposed to be better over the weekend, and up to 25 celcius on Sunday, which would be cool (not in it literal sense, obviously).

Right, thanks for any replies

[Wood~Ant]

I think this weekend may possibly be the time for a second flight, as it is going to be very warm and if you take a look at the pics Jenant put in the Alates Chamber, then you'll see what I mean.
We will be watching the flavus nests very closely over the next 48 hours

[kalistes]

I noticed an M. rubra male alate being attended by a worker yesterday (I'm in the North of England), so it looks like we have some flights to go too ;D

[shadowsong]

well it has been one messed up summer,
I seen 4 flights from the same Lasius niger colony in our
garden

all with tons and tons of males and females
but mostly females.

[shaunus]

Wood: ok, keep me posted, I know your further west than me, and apparently got a decent enough summer, compared to the South-East, anyway I really am annoyed that my summer has been ruined somewhat:( Meh, I'll get over it I suppose, one day ), so have the Flavus been active down your way?

Kalistes: yeah, I was in a national trust place today down near Esher, and saw a M. Rubra male for the first time. It was a tiny nest, and there were about 3 males, no females unfortunately, but I was humoured at how small the males were!
*** L. nigers about again though. I kept seeing them on the floor, mated ones, and hopefully crouched down to identify them. By the end of the day I was quite disappointed at just how many Nigers there are

Shadowsong: I know! One nest in my garden, which I didn't even know existed, has pumped out hundreds of alates!! My sister kept getting me to come out and aid them in their flights. I ended up thinking "there are too many Nigers, I want to be doing this to a rarer species." although, you do get a cool feeling when it flies off your finger, and doesn't fall to the ground, which is not very often. I have a pond, and many-a-time they just flutter, you think "here we go" and it falls like a WWII plane, spiraling into the pond... My fish are pretty blind to lucky treats, so I usually get to reassure them, and start all over again...

Life, eh?