Mile-long swarm of flying ants spotted in UK – and more could be on the way

Flying ants are spotted when males and new queens leave the nest to mate

The south coast of England has been invaded by a swarm of flying ants measuring a mile long.

The Met Office detected the ants on a weather radar on Friday as people took to social media and said it was ‘flying ant day’.

It said it is not uncommon for the flying ants to be picked up on weather radars this time of year.

Swarms often look like rain on the radar but the Met Office can check their weather gauges to confirm if it is rain or flying ants.

But Simon Partridge, a forecaster for the Met Office, said it is harder to tell whether it is flying ants or rain during wet weather.

He said: ‘Every year around this time we do pick them up on the rain radar. At the moment it’s harder to tell because we’ve got so many showers and the ants look like showers.

‘When we do get the rain, they don’t fly as much.

‘It’s generally the southern parts of the UK where we tend to notice it most.

‘We haven’t seen any swarms today but it doesn’t mean they’re not there as there are so many showers around.

‘They were picked up on the radar on Friday. It was much drier and it was easier to spot them.

‘They can be seen several miles across – they look like very heavy showers. On Friday it was about a mile.

‘They’re an interesting phenomenon and it’s always this time of year and usually over about a week or so.’

Flying ants are spotted when males and new queens leave the nest to mate, with many ant colonies doing so on the same day.

According to the Royal Society of Biology, there is not always one flying ant day – on as many as 96% of days between June and September, flying ants are spotted.

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