All you need to know about these pesky summer visitors - and why they're gunning for your marshmallows
The flying ants are a feature of the Irish summer and it's round about this time that they suddenly begin to appear in our gardens and houses. Collie Ennis is a research associate in the Department of Zoology at Trinity College Dublin and he spoke to RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime about the phenomenon. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been lightly edited for length and clarity - full discussion can be heard above).
So what exactly is a flying ant? "The flying ants are the queen ants that are leaving an established nest to form nests of their own", explains Ennis. "They would have been reared up in nest that they're leaving and then they'll shoot off in these massive swarms if the temperature and the humidity is just right. That's where you get these mile long swarms occasionally."
Ennis says it's not just flying ant day or even flying ant week. "It's a whole period of time from July into August. When localised weather conditions are right, we'll see the whole colony clearing out. You'll see kind of the worker ants making sure the holes are nice and wide around the nest so the queens can get out there and take off onto the wind. It can be as localised as a small suburb of Dublin with all their swarms taking off or you could have the whole east coast of England or Ireland."
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The weather, Ennis explains, plays a massive part in the extent of swarm activity. "The weather right now is pretty perfect. You get these downpours which soften up the ground a lot and then you might get a couple of days of really good heat and that creates that humidity and then they say let's rock and roll and all the queens will take off.
"We've actually created the perfect habitat in our urban areas where they just do really well. Think about a patio in your back garden or a lot of the the streets that have paving stones. There's sand underneath and that's basically heaven for ants."
Ennis says they're actually an important part of the ecosystem. "They don't bite or sting so they're just more of an annoyance. But they're a really useful part of the ecosystem because they provide a lot of food at this time of year for swallows and swifts who have travelled over to breed in Ireland from Africa so they're really give a bump to them. They feed up our seagulls, who can get a little bit drunk after eating too many of them because of the acid in their stomach, which can make the seagulls a little lala, so you might see a couple of seagulls staggering around parks."
If they see a nice chocolate bar or marshmallows in your press, they'll leave a chemical trail so other ants can find those tasty morsels
As you'd expect, it's the queen who bosses things at base. "The regular ants live in the colony and the queen of that colony runs the whole show. She'll lay some eggs that are also going to hatch out not as workers but as queens and kings and they'll then take off and establish the new colonies. When a queen gets established in a nest, she can live for up to 30 years."
What happens when they get into our gaffs? Drivetime co-presenter Sarah McInerney said she discovered "an army of ants making their way to my sweet cupboard. They were literally following each other all the way up to this cupboard and then going back again." She washed the wall and that seemed to stop them so if they do get into your house and have found some nice marshmallows to steal, can you just take away their trail?
"You'll get scouts that go out looking for tasty morsels", explains Ennis. "If they see a nice chocolate bar or marshmallows or something sweet in your press, they'll leave a chemical trail so the other ants can find where those marshmallows are. They're really spread out all over the place so they're kind of sending out these expeditions for food. Some of them will get lucky and some of them won't but once they do, they'll go back to the nest and leave the chemical trail and then everybody starts moving back and forth to that food."
