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This afternoon I noticed quite a congregation on the back patio. Small Black Ant (Lasius niger) emerging into daylight for the first time in their lives for their nuptial flight.
Unfortunately not long after the heavens opened and put a proper dampner on things as the rain fell by the bucketful.
Nature Journeys 
This is very interesting; I have only seen termite alates before.
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Good shot! They have to take it the way it comes 🙂 This summer I saw how the ants on the meadow build their nests again or better how they dried it after heavy showers. They built landscapes of sand outside. It looked great!
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Thank you! 🙂 Ants are amazing. They have been moving sand from beneath my slabs for the past few months building their runs and chambers, and now they are off!
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I hope your slabs don’t move too much now. They left? I could give you some ants from my balcony 😉 They don’t leave…
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The slabs seem fine – I kept sweeping the sand back in the cracks and the ants kept digging it out again … but the ants won in the end … I should have known better lol! 🙂 Only the mating pairs have left …. yep the ants are always there and they are welcome so long as they stay out of the house 🙂 We also have red ants out front on the grass verge, but they have been quiet of late.
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A pity we didn’t bet 😉 I agree with the house. Until now the ones here find enough out there and I hope it stays that way. Two species in one garden. I hope they don’t meet 🙂
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🙂
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Very nice photos Pete. I remember one year when I was working on an old house, and as we took the wall apart around the chimney it was full or flying termites. This was in April or May.
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Thank you, Dwight 🙂 We don’t have termites here, but we can get ants in the house.
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The winged termintes come out for only a day or two.. find a mate then lose their wings and hibernate again. (I think) We get plenty of ants also.
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These look far more benign than our fire ants! Do they all have wings at some point? Or are these like queens and worker ants?
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The smaller ants are the workers, and the winged ants are either males or females (or both) which shed their wings after mating.
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All those suitors and caregivers. I’ve read that some insects, and I think ants are among them, actually remove sperm from a female and replace it with their own. That seems a bit beyond the imagination but those writing were scientists so know whereof they speak…or write. The insect world is filled with stories that are fully mind-blowing. 🙂 As I split our firewood that has been sitting in the sun for a few months I often disturb nesting sites and watch the many worker ants running around with tiny larvae. I do feel a bit guilty when I see that but…winter heat. 🙂
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I know what you mean about feeling guilty when disturbing sites and seeing what you have described … but what can you do … nature is full of disturbances unfortunately. Today I came across two decimated wasp nests which had been built into a bank … they looked like they had been dug out be a hungry fox or badger. How brave they were … some years ago at the same site I got stung on the ear by a wasp just for getting too close … and boy did it hurt!
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