Summertime in the UK can sometimes see swarms of flying ants emerge, but why does this actually happen?

This unpleasant phenomenon often follows incredibly hot weather, with the flying insects causing a bother getting into people's hair and faces.

It causes such annoyance that there is now a dedicated Flying Ant Day for when the swarms actually emerge.

But why do the swarms of flying ants happen and can Flying Ant Day actually be pinned down?

Why are there so many flying ants this year?

According to the Evening Standard, the phenomenon occurs when young queen flying ants leave the nest to create their own colony and mate with male flying ants.

They tend to mate while they are flying because it increases their chances of reproduction.

Ant swarms are usually triggered by temperature, so the queen ants and males tend to leave the nest when the weather is hot and humid

The Evening Standard adds: "The winged ants appear at different times around the country – they tend to fly earlier in urban areas than rural areas because temperatures are generally warmer in towns and cities."

The reason why there are such massive swarms of flying ants during these times is that each nest typically has 5,000 worker ants with a single queen, but this can expand to as many as 15,000 worker ants.

While the male ants usually die within a few days of mating, worker ants are all female and they typically live for a month. However, the queen ant can live for more than 10 years and will spend most of her life in the nest.

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When is Flying Ant Day?

Although there is a Flying Ant Day researchers from the Royal Society of Biology refute the notion that flying ants emerge on a single day every year.

The period of swarms can actually last for several weeks across the UK and usually occur during July and August.

Flying ants will emerge on days when the temperature is over 25°C, there is little wind, and there is a possibility of rain in the near future.

Flying Ant Day was marked on Wednesday, July 18 in 2024 but this is not likely to be exactly the same in 2025.