24 November 2023 Hello ant fans. The second half of this year has been very busy for me, including having to undergo surgery, which went well, but I was very ill with an unpleasant side effect of the general anaesthetic, and from which I am still suffering. Not too much to say about my ant colonies, but they continue to do well. Myrmica rubra I was quite surprised to see two wingless queen ants in the foraging arena last month. This colony only has one egg-laying queen, the others present being winged queens left over from this year’s sexual brood. Ants rarely, if at all, mate with their own b ..read more

Welcome to Flying Ant Day 2023, when all those lovely winged ants take to the air. I was walking to work the other day during the mass flights, and there were swarms of them on the ground and up in the air. It took me longer to get to work as I was trying not to tread on any. Many times I had to gently brush flying ants off from my person. Why are There Flying Ants? For those unfamiliar as to why there are these countless flying ants during the summer months I’ll give a brief explanation. Every year established ant colonies (generally those big enough to be able to afford the food resources to ..read more

7 April 2023 It’s now Spring and my ants are waking up from their winter hibernation.  As is usual, the Myrmica rubra stayed a little active during the cold months, whereas the Lasius niger tended to stay in the nest. Both colonies seemed to have fared well during hibernation, with both queens looking healthy, and laying eggs. I have given them some freshly killed crickets which were received very well, causing many ants to emerge from their nests and feed. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have in store for 2023. My cat was laying out in the garden today, right next to a colony of ..read more

Hello. Apologies for the lack of activity from over the past 9 months (I can’t believe it’s been that long). I have been very busy with life and such stuff, including starting a new job, and time simply ran away from me. Both of my ant colonies (Lasius niger and Myrmica rubra) are doing well, and going strong. They have been very active this summer, and the Lasius niger colony has expanded very rapidly. The Myrmica colony has kept a steady level of ants, numbering 200-300 workers and one queen. This summer the rubras produced winged males and females, but, as usual, these are killed off in the ..read more

Spring Wakening 2022. Welcome to Spring 2022, ant lovers. Lasius niger I am pleased to say that this colony has survived it’s winter hibernation phase, and they are now very active as they forage for food (and escape from their tank! Typical Lasius niger!) The colony has grown in size during the winter, and there are a lot of cocoons and larvae present. On looking into the nest I can see some nest expansion. I could not see the queen, but I am confident she is well. Myrmica rubra This colony has also survived the winter hibernation, though they did remain fairly active during the colder month ..read more

As summer draws to a close and Autumn begins to show itself, here’s an update on my colonies. Lasius umbratus Today on checking this colony, I saw what appeared to be an empty nest. But no, wait. There’s the queen moving about in one of the chambers. Sadly, there appears to be just one worker with her. I put some food in for them and the lone worker examined it. However, she did not seem to pay much notice. As hard as I tried I could not see any other ants, or even brood. For all intents and purposes this colony is reached its end. 12 years ago that I obtained this colony as a newly ensconced ..read more

Flying Ant Day is Here! Yes, it’s that time of year again when us ant enthusiasts get excited. Everybody else gets annoyed as flying ants in their thousands take to the air. Of course, to call it Flying Ant “Day” is a bit of a misnomer. Flying ants do not just fly on one day each year. When Do Flying Ants Fly? Good question. The answer depends on which species of ant we are talking about. When most people talk about Flying Ant Day, they refer to the mass-synchronised mating flights of the common black garden ant, Lasius niger. These are the most abundant ants in the UK. However, it is worth me ..read more

In my previous blog entry I stated that my Lasius umbratus had not produced any eggs this year. Well, I was wrong. Lasius umbratus I wanted to check on the soil within the nesting box, to make sure it was not too dry. As I lifted the lid I received a nice surpise; there were a clutch of larvae and cocoons on the surface of the soil. These were very quickly removed by the annoyed workers, but it told me that my fears of the queen’s egg-laying having ceased were unfounded. The number of larvae and cocoons present were very small, but it does give me hope. However, if these eggs produce nothing b ..read more

I think I have ants under my house. Yesterday morning I found perhaps 50 dead Lasius niger ants on the floor of my Ant Room. On checking my own Lasius niger colony I was satisfied that they were not my ants. I noticed a live ant on the floor. She was much bigger than my Lasius niger workers, therefore I knew she was from an established colony. I cleaned the floor and went out in the garden to see if I could find any signs of ants near the back door. There was a line of ants reaching from the wall that separates my garden from that of my neighbour. The line ended at a small hole in the wall at ..read more

I was recently contacted by Octopus Books who offered me an advance copy of a new book which is due for release on 6 May 21. The book is Empire of Ants by Susanne Foitzik and Olaf Fritsche. It was originally published in German in 2019, but this is the first English translation. Susanne Foitzik is an evolutionary biologist, behavioural scientist and an international authority on ants. She also has a PhD in ant evolution and behaviour. Her work on ants has been published in more than 110 scientific papers. Olaf Fritsche is a science journalist and biophysicist with a PhD in biology. I am always ..read more