Have you spotted any flying ants this week? 

In what is dubbed as Flying Ant Day, millions of the critters take to the sky in an annual swarming event to create new colonies.

The Natural History Museum said the winged ants appear at different times around the country and local weather conditions are critical for the coordination of swarming activity.

Residents in Essex and across the UK spotted swarms of flying ants in the skies yesterday, in what has been named the Flying Ant Day of the year.

Over July and August, weather conditions are ideal for the insects to mate while in flight around England.

Earlier this month, on when the Flying Ant Day of 2024 could be, Professor Adam Hart from the University of Gloucestershire explained: "We have this nice idea that there is a 'Flying Ant Day' and often, in really good summer weather, you can get lots of ants emerging all over the country at the same time.

"But actually, what our study showed, was that any time between about the middle of July and the end of August could be a 'Flying Ant Day' and sometimes you can have ants flying in your garden weeks after each other."

Why is Flying Ant Day a thing?

Flying Ant Day is scientifically referred to as nuptial flight, the phenomena where virgin queens mate with males before starting new colonies.

For humans this basically means a large quantity of ants whizzing around. 

The natural event has been described as "early Christmas" for seagulls, who enjoy feasting on the insects.

While it has been dubbed 'Flying Ant Day', a project by the Royal Society of Biology found that the widely held idea is actually a misconception.

They found rather than a single day, it is more of a season. 

Gazette:

Swaming is triggered by the weather and tends to happen in July or August.

The study discovered that ants only flew on days when it was warm, not windy and conditions had improved compared to the previous day.

Why do ants sprout wings?

A new queen ant needs to leave the colony where she is born to found a new one. She also needs to mate. So, she leaves her nest with a number of flying male worker ants.

According to the Royal Society of Biology, the large numbers of flying ants which appear in a short space of time increase the chance of reproduction, because there is a very high chance a queen will encounter a male from another nest.

Then, to check he's worthy. she flies away from him, performing acrobatics to test his abilities to catch her.

When he does they mate in mid-air. This kills the male ant.

The Queen then lands to find somewhere to start a new colony. She loses her wings after just one day.