Happy Flying Ant Day!
Ahhhhhhhhh….the driveway is full of flying ants!!!!
Also, the front garden, the back garden, the bit on the side by, and pretty much the whole of Britain. Today, one day only!
This is the day allllll the Lasius Niger on this big ol’ island get laid. Then the males lose their wings, wander about aimlessly, waste away and die. While the females lose their wings, wander around looking for a place to hole up lay eggs for the rest of their lives, mostly fail and die.
G’night, kids!
It’s not the same day every year (not like those showoffy swallows in Capistrano), but it tends to be on a warm, muggy day toward the end of July. Which this is.
I don’t usually freak out about insects, but the last time I saw a cloud of flying ants, it was the advance guard of termites that ate the back half of Mother’s house. Happily, these dudes don’t do anything worse than get in your hair and die all over everything.
Yeah, yeah…it’s a nature blog now. I can’t bear to post about Anders Breivik today. The BBC are rolling around in this one like a hog in shit, in the most sick-making display of political opportunism. Cannot. Deal.
Posted: July 25th, 2011 under animals, britain, personal.
Comments: 23
Comments
Comment from Mark Matis
Time: July 25, 2011, 6:45 pm
Hey, what ELSE would one expect of the BBC? After all, they are merely the East Pondian version of ABCNNBCBS and their dead-tree fellow travelers. Although I understand you DO have to pay for them, much as we are stuck with paying for the lying swill on NPR and PBS. But somebody has to save poor George Soros from spending all his money to get the truth out there. And who better than Great Britain, after all that fine man did for your country!
Pingback from Happy Flying Ant Day! – S. Weasel | Flying Ants
Time: July 25, 2011, 8:59 pm
[…] article: Happy Flying Ant Day! – S. Weasel Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: advance, advance-guard, back-half, flying-ants, last-time, mother, […]
Comment from unkawill
Time: July 25, 2011, 9:05 pm
anybody have Amy Whinehouse in the dead pool?
Comment from Mark T
Time: July 25, 2011, 9:08 pm
We ate in the garden yesterday despite all the flying ants. I didn’t know they were a one-day affair, though. Wings for a day. Heh. We’ve got a new little Jack Russell Terrier puppy who was delighted with the ants and happily snapped and growed at each one of them–while he was also trying to dig in my vegetable pots. Sweasel, did you grow another tub of carrots this year? I drew inspiration from that harvest of yours last year. Mine have got lots of foliage but only little orangy nubbies underneath. My London garden doesn’t get enough sunshine for a full-on vegetable plot, I’m afraid. Would love to see another photo of your carrot pot(s) this year if you’re growing them!
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 25, 2011, 9:21 pm
Dude, I couldn’t grow mold in the back of the fridge. I’ll send Uncle B along to answer your gardening questions. (Though I know he did grow some in pots this year).
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: July 25, 2011, 9:29 pm
( …. trudges in from garden, covered in mud…)
Hi Mark. It depends on the variety you’re growing, but they do take quite a while to produce usable carrots. I’ve got four 10″ pots on the go so far (using Suttons ‘Ideal’) and even the ones sown in April aren’t really ready yet.
This cold, sunless summer has really held them back it seems (sorry USAians!).
Are you feeding them, by the way? They need feeding with a good high potash fertiliser – I use Phostrogen.
Do let us know how you get on!
Comment from Mark Matis
Time: July 25, 2011, 9:51 pm
But beware, Mark T. SWeas and UB know some British Giants that are VERY hungry…
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 25, 2011, 10:18 pm
Well, at least the Chooks will get a nice protein snack today. Ants are good for growing chickens. Unless they are Bulldog ants, in which case they would be toast…
Comment from Uncle Monkey
Time: July 25, 2011, 10:32 pm
I see that one there with the bottle of vodka and tats just bought a bunch of coke, ecstasy and ketamine from the one in the crack.
No good will come of this.
Comment from Chef Mojo
Time: July 25, 2011, 11:59 pm
Ta ell with Norway! What about Amy Winehouse?!?
Comment from Oceania
Time: July 25, 2011, 11:59 pm
Screw Windows!
Someone stand on Bill gates like an Ant! SQUISH!
I was just transferring 5 T of files – and it keeps fucking asking if I am sure I want to ‘replace this file’ – I already told it to replace it at the start …. fik!
I have serious reservations about the Dickheads that write Microsoft Software.
No wonder people are sick of MicroSuxs.
They peeked with XP … it is all downhill from then on …
Comment from Anonymous
Time: July 26, 2011, 12:00 am
Thanks Uncle Monkey….your post put me in mind of THIS little educational video.
Comment from steve
Time: July 26, 2011, 12:01 am
oops….
That’s me….Mr. Anonymous….
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 26, 2011, 12:17 am
FLASH…. Sounds like the operator is a right bloody git!
Fire him.
🙂
Comment from Mark Matis
Time: July 26, 2011, 1:07 am
Good one, Anonymous at 12:00 am, or steve, or WHOEVER the heck you are!
Comment from gebrauchshund
Time: July 26, 2011, 6:14 am
Not to be a pedant, but I do believe it should be the “Salmon” of Capistrano.
Comment from O’Really
Time: July 26, 2011, 10:11 am
Not sure what it’s called when you have a word or words that can be read like other words but this is a story about a creature that is actually does something productive for only one day of its life and it’s called “Lasius Niger?!?!?!”
Is that an entomologist’s idea of a joke?
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 26, 2011, 1:30 pm
Ohhhhhh, O’Really. I didn’t even pick up on that.
Comment from Nina from GCP
Time: July 26, 2011, 4:42 pm
I’m smiling, Stoatress…remember your vid of chickens pecking things? A cousin of mine just reposted it on facebook because she liked it so much. 🙂
And I just finished reading Wind in the Willows again, laughing at the Stoats and Weasels chapter. Heh heh heh
Comment from David Gillies
Time: July 26, 2011, 6:48 pm
My mother used to put a kettle of boiling water over the nest when we got an eruption. Not sure why. Something to do with them damaging the roots of her roses perhaps. Whatever, it ruined their outing.
BTW, termites are not ants. One’s Isoptera (although the taxonomists are arguing about that now,) other is Hymenoptera. Termites are basically tiny little cockroaches.
Comment from SCOTTtheBADGER
Time: July 27, 2011, 2:57 am
Has anyone else noticed that Mr. Brevik has Charlie Manson eyes?
Comment from cloud star functional pouches
Time: October 17, 2014, 1:55 am
My relatives all the time say that I am killing my time here at web, except I know I am getting know-how
daily by reading such nice articles or reviews.
Write a comment
Beware: more than one link in a comment is apt to earn you a trip to the spam filter, where you will remain -- cold, frightened and alone -- until I remember to clean the trap. But, hey, without Akismet, we'd be up to our asses in...well, ass porn, mostly.<< carry me back to ol' virginny