Blog
Notes on ant nuptial flights: when they happen, what sets them off, and where the popular version of the story parts company with the research.
24 August 2026
Crematogaster: the acrobat ants of late summer
You've probably already seen the gaster held up over the back and filed it away as nothing. Late summer, warm humid afternoons, is when the colony behind it takes to the air.Read →21 August 2026
Why we won't tell you when tropical ants fly
Above and below the tropics, a flight has a season. Near the equator it mostly has a rain event instead, and a calendar month for it would be a guess dressed up as data.Read →19 August 2026
The parasitic Lasius: queens that take over someone else's colony
A big gingery queen on the paving in late August is probably not Lasius niger. She can't found alone, and telling her apart from the ants she needs matters before you put her in a tube.Read →17 August 2026
Why cities fly first, and by how little
Cities run warmer, so urban flying ants go up earlier. The UK survey puts the gap at about three days, which is both a real result and a much smaller one than people expect.Read →14 August 2026
Lasius flavus: the August flying ants in Britain's lawns
Britain gets a second flying ant season in August, from the yellow meadow ant. It goes up in the early evening, out of grass rather than paving, and most people walk straight past it.Read →12 August 2026
Harvester ants fly on the rain, not the date
Pogonomyrmex flights key off the North American monsoon. The trigger is rain, not a date, and where the rain doesn't come, neither does the usual timing.Read →10 August 2026
How to tell a queen ant from a big worker
A queen isn't always the biggest ant you'll spot. Thorax shape, wing scars and what to photograph, so size alone doesn't fool you.Read →7 August 2026
Why one colony can fly twice in a summer
A missed flight isn't always a missed species. The same nest can send up a second batch of queens weeks after the first, in a good year.Read →5 August 2026
Fully claustral or not: how a queen founds
Whether you feed a founding queen depends on which of three strategies her species uses. Most seal themselves in and live on flight muscle alone.Read →4 August 2026