They are not a different insect
Flying ants belong to the same species as the workers on your kitchen trail. Every mature colony raises winged young queens and males once a year for breeding. The workers themselves never grow wings, so a winged ant is always one of the colony's future founders or its males.
The mating flight
On warm, humid, still days in summer, often in July and August, workers open up exits and the winged ants stream out and take to the air to mate. Nearby colonies tend to respond to the same weather, so the sky can seem full of them across a whole neighbourhood. The males die soon afterwards. Mated queens land, break off their wings and search for a spot to start a new nest. Gulls, swifts and other birds often gather overhead to feed on them, which can be the first sign a flight is under way.
How long it lasts
From any one nest, the emergence usually runs for a few hours, sometimes stretching to a day or two. Across London the season is spread over several weeks, because separate colonies go on separate days, which is why it can seem to happen more than once. For other pests that follow the calendar, see our page on seasonal pests in Preston.
What winged ants indoors tell you
A few flying ants drifting in through an open window on a flight day could have come from anywhere. Dozens emerging inside the room, from gaps in floorboards, a skirting board, a window reveal or a crack beside the back door, are different: they have walked out of a nest in or under the building, or pressed right against it. That colony was there before the flight and will still be there afterwards.
What to do while they are emerging
- Close internal doors to keep them to one room
- Open that room's window so they can leave; many head straight for the light
- Vacuum up the ones on floors and sills, then empty the vacuum outside
- Note exactly where they came out, because that gap is the best clue you will get
- Keep windows shut on the side of the house where they are pouring from the patio
The flight stops on its own. Spraying a cloud of winged ants does nothing to the colony they came from.
Flying ants or something else?
Winged ants have a narrow pinched waist, bent antennae, and front wings clearly longer than the back pair. Wasps are bigger, shinier and striped yellow, and a steady stream into a single hole in summer is more likely a nest: see how to know if you have a wasp nest. Small round beetles gathering at the glass are covered in carpet beetles on windowsills. Shed wings left on a sill afterwards show that queens came down nearby.
Do flying ants bite?
Black garden ant queens and males are harmless to people and cannot sting. If anyone has an unusual reaction to an insect, speak to a pharmacist or GP, and call 999 for signs of a severe allergic reaction, such as difficulty breathing or swelling of the face or throat.
After the flight
Once the winged ants have gone, the workers carry on as before. A queen that lands in your garden may try to found a colony, though very few succeed. If the emergence came from indoors or from the base of the house, work out where the colony sits using where ants nest around houses, and leave sealing that gap until later, following how to stop ants entering your home. To have the colony dealt with, book ant control; ant control in Brent costs £190 for a flat and £220 for a house.
