A bloke discovered Flying Ants Day the hard way this week. James Duxbury was in his garden when he suddenly found himself swarmed by the creepy critters.
Out of almost nowhere Wednesday was unofficially declared ‘Flying Ants Day’ as the winged mini beasts appeared to be everywhere in the UK.
James, 66, from Bolton, Greater Manchester has revealed his encounter at home came as something of a shock, describing the insects as about “50 times bigger” than regular ants.
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He told Bolton News: “I’m sat in my garden chair in my backyard because it was nice, and I thought ‘what’s these crawling on me? They were flying ants.’
(Image: James Duxbury)
“They seem bigger than normal, because normal ones seem only tiny – but these are like fattish ones – I thought they were coming up from the gaps in the flags, because they lay their eggs underground and suddenly emerge.”
Taking action against the invasion, James whipped out fly killer and went on a rampage around the house to make sure he could rest easy safe in the knowledge he wasn’t sharing a kitchen or bedroom with the blighters.
James added: “I’d been sat in the backyard all morning with my back door open and my windows open, and I noticed these and thought ‘well if they’re there, they must have gone in the house’, so I sprayed around with fly killer.
(Image: Getty Images)
“You don’t want them in your house because you end up with ants everywhere, and then they start flying into your bed at night and biting you.
“I thought, ‘well I’m not having them biting in my bed’.”
The phenomenon seen in London and elsewhere over the last 24 hours refers to specific days during the summer when the frisky fiends take to the skies in search of a mate.
It usually takes place around mid-July when the young queens set-up with a new group. Although there is no specific date, the event is often dictated by weather conditions, meaning it varies across the UK.
Despite annual reaction to the bugs, according to the Royal Society of Biology, Flying Ants Day isn’t an exact science because they just don’t emerge on a single day every year.
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