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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 11, 2010 9:12:17 GMT
It is very cloudy and the humidity is high today in Southern England, but as yet we have not had any rain for the past couple of weeks; and a good downpour is required to kick start the local Lasius flavus and L. niger into beginning their nuptial flights.  From past experience, I have found they usually don't tend to fly until later in July around here; and sometimes into August if weather conditions are not quite right. If we had any Formica fusca nests nearby, they often do have their mating flights a bit earlier than Lasius or Myrmica species; and Formica rufa will have already flown about 3 weeks ago. As the nearest F. fusca I know of are 20 miles away, or down in the New Forest in Hampshire, I am keeping a watchful vigil on my local Lasius nests, as these are only 30 feet (about 10 metres) both back and front of our place. It shouldn't be too much longer now for major ant nuptial flights to occur in Britain, so keep looking at any ant nests near you and keep those collecting pots at the ready, as it not that hard to start off a colony or two from locally collected, newly mated queens; and in the case of most Myrmica species you can even keep colony founding queens together, as then you can get a nice polygynous colony which will cost you nothing; but do remember to separate those queens who are monogynous by nature, or you will find they will fight until only the strongest queen remains alive. I am sure that we will soon get posts about the mating flights here very soon, as high summer is the right time of year for the vast majority of European and British ants to fly. Now all we need is a drop of rain to spark things off  |
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shane
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Post by shane on Jul 12, 2010 19:16:10 GMT
With all rain last night and today, hope to be lucky to see some flying ants active and new roaming queens. Hope to get lucky so will keep an eye out on places I know have ant nests |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 14, 2010 7:55:39 GMT
It is very windy and rather cold today for the middle of July, but yesterday Jen did manage to get this picture of a winged male Lasius flavus just running back into the nest, so they are thinking about their mating flights even if the weather is stopping them at the moment  |
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Post by ryan349 on Jul 14, 2010 16:02:12 GMT
I've kept my eye on several L.Niger nests, 2 Myrmica nests and 1 Lasius Flavus nest and all of them are showing sign of preparing for the flight. As I speak a storm is hitting my area so the next sunny day will be up at 4am. |
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Post by Zarbi on Jul 14, 2010 17:13:26 GMT
Hey Ryan, you don't need to get up that early mate, as all those ant species fly in the afternoon. So try around 2pm onward when the conditions are right  |
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shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
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Post by shane on Jul 19, 2010 19:25:21 GMT
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Post by Kyle on Jul 19, 2010 23:15:02 GMT
They truly are everwhere at the mo here in NW of Kent, not so much the queens any more still the odd 1 or 2 now and then but the males are going mad ;D mind you they do start to get annoying when they are all landing on your screen and buttons you're typing (out in the garden on a laptop, if you were wondering how lol), still awaiting the Myrmica to to send out there alates yet tho, thats the main aim this year, apart from a few Lasius niger queens for a few mates who are finding it very amusing  |
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shane
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Post by shane on Jul 19, 2010 23:58:42 GMT
Your lucky ;D I know I have around 6 or 8 Lasius or black garden ants colony almost next door to one another and no action from their nests unless I missed it last month here cos of random rain then heat wave. For some reason though they love nesting in and under big plant pots |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 2, 2011 17:42:22 GMT
At the other end of our estate we have a lot of Lasius niger nests, and at 4pm this afternoon they sent out several large mating flights. Jen was out walking our dog and managed to collect 10 newly mated queens  We will keep these until they have laid eggs and colony founded, then once the brood is mature or they have their first workers we will sell on the surplus at a cheap enough price which our members can afford |
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Post by rubra on Aug 4, 2011 3:19:20 GMT
Hey Guys nice to be in such a wonderful forum. Recently in my area (North East) we have had flights all week letting me catch numerous winged ants and a few wingless queens and the odd myrmica rubra . Pretty good going, got 5 queens mated for sure in a cigarette box with around 7-9 winged ants in a curry tub with soil in. I am yet to decide what to do with my winged ants but For the mated ones I will be giving them nice test tube homes ;D Best regards, Rubra  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Aug 4, 2011 6:45:57 GMT
Welcome Rubra, good luck with the Myrmica queens. |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 4, 2011 9:20:43 GMT
Hey Guys nice to be in such a wonderful forum. Recently in my area (North East) we have had flights all week letting me catch numerous winged ants and a few wingless queens and the odd myrmica rubra . Pretty good going, got 5 queens mated for sure in a cigarette box with around 7-9 winged ants in a curry tub with soil in. I am yet to decide what to do with my winged ants but For the mated ones I will be giving them nice test tube homes ;D Best regards, Rubra Hi rubra and welcome to the Ant Hill. It is becoming quite a rare thing to witness Myrmica flights where I live, so you were lucky to see them happen in your part of the country I know I have always wanted to try and found a colony of this genera starting with a group of 6 or 7 newly mated young queens, but I have only ever seen alates inside the nest or flying late in the evening just before dusk, so the chances of finding new Myrmica queens was always impossible for me  The only way I have ever seen lots of queens has been in an older, well established nest, so if you saw a flight during the daytime you were in the right place at the right time Enjoy the forum and have fun reading and posting, as we are a happy bunch of ant lovers here ;D |
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Post by myrmica4ever on Aug 4, 2011 16:52:34 GMT
I witnessed a mating flight but I don't know what ant it was I only saw the males
they were black with orange/yellow bums the tip of the abdomen is it was yellow/orange but the rest was black.
they were found on a massive log pile with the highest point around 3 meters of the ground it was in a meadow like field in bentham cumbria at around 5pm on friday the 29th of july.
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Post by Zarbi on Aug 4, 2011 19:35:29 GMT
I witnessed a mating flight but I don't know what ant it was I only saw the males they were black with orange/yellow bums the tip of the abdomen is it was yellow/orange but the rest was black. they were found on a massive log pile with the highest point around 3 meters of the ground it was in a meadow like field in bentham cumbria at around 5pm on friday the 29th of july. Possibly Myrmica males, as these can be black with reddish orange gasters |
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Post by myrmica4ever on Aug 4, 2011 19:46:48 GMT
k thanks
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