Trent FM noticed huge swarms of flying ants in Nottingham city centre on Monday night and now we know why, it's their mini mating season this week.
We saw people at bus stops trying to swipe the ants away or covering their eyes as they walked through town.
Apparently, they've been all over Notts, you've been telling us on Facebook that they've been crawling over lawns and houses in Arnold, Ilkeston, Mapperly, Bulwell, Newark, Carlton, Bilborough, Nuthall, Kirkby in Ashfield, Eastwood and Rainworth. The big swarms only last a day in one area though because the females pick one day a year to mate, when the temperature's right. Afterwards, the male ants die.
Andrew Chick is an insect expert at Nottingham Trent Uni: "The actual ants only fly once in their life, so they have to learn very quickly, it tends to be a bit of a crash course in flying."
And Andrew can explain why there seemed to be thousands in Nottingham city centre on Monday:
"The common black ant is one ant that is able to colonise under paving slabs and of course, in the city centre, there are quite a few slabs that they can colonise underneath."
http://www.trentfm.co.uk/article.asp?id=1885287
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