'Flying Ant Day' arrives in Lancashire as swarms of winged insects spotted - here's why

Whether you find it a bit creepy or see it as an intriguing natural phenomenon, here in the UK it’s that time of year: when clouds of ants take to the skies.

Here's everything you need to know:

What are flying ants?

The ants we’re most used to seeing are female black garden ants, marching around collecting food.

But during summer, winged males and new queens of the same species take flight.

Why do they grow wings?

The ants take to the skies so that queens can mate with males from different colonies, and set up new nests of their own.

What is flying ant day and why does it happen in such a short time frame?

The event usually arrives in about mid-July, as queens emerge and travel to set up new colonies, surrounded by males.

The University of Cambridge's Prof Adria LeBoeuf, an expert on the phenomenon, said: "It is this mysterious, somehow agreed-upon day, once or a couple of times a year, when the temperature conditions are just right and all the males and the new queens fly up into the sky to mate.

"The reason it's such a phenomenon in the UK is one ant species is abundant across the whole country, the black garden ant, and they all do this type of reproduction."

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Why now?

"They want a hot day, usually above 25C - preferably 30C - but [Wednesday] was nearer 25C," said Prof LeBoeuf, whose research focuses on how evolution has engineered social life.

"It's been quite cold of late, under 20C, so they would not fly in those conditions.

"It can't be too windy and often it has just rained or it will rain soon."

Is it just one day of the year?

No. In Britain and Ireland, flying ant days typically occur in July or August, often in warmer urban areas first, when the weather is hot and humid and when winds are low.

Temperature is a key factor, with the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) noting ant swarms rarely emerge if it is cooler than 13C, and says 25C is their preferred seasonal average.

Why do they swarm together?

The reason the ants appear in such big numbers is that it helps protect them from predators.

Flying all together all at once also gives them a much better chance of finding mates.

Will they hurt me?

While they might be super annoying, they won’t hurt you.

Plus they provide loads of extra food for hungry birds!

How long do flying ants live?

The male ants, whose only purpose is to fertilise eggs, die a couple of days after the swarm.

The female ants can, in the right conditions, live up to 15 years, but once they’ve succeeded in creating fertilised eggs they chew off their own wings, so become regular ants.