Pasties and Flying Ants

We went for our first pasty ride of the season yesterday. Popped a couple of pasties in a backpack and did a round trip towards Usagre and back. The recent rain made the tracks dust-free which was nice for a change. Yesterday was also flying ant day. The yard was full of flying ants. It was impossible to step through the patio without standing on them, it was like a patchy carpet. Admittedly, a cycle ride on flying ant day was perhaps not the best combination. The kept getting in behind my sunglasses and when we got home there were about half a dozen inside my t-shirt. Eeew.

This is about flying ant day from Wikipedia –

“Flying ant day” is an informal term for the day on which queen ants emerge from the nest to begin their nuptial flight.^[6] In most species, the male ants also fly alongside them, although they are smaller and less noticeable. The queens fly around—some very long distances, and others going only a few meters—then mate, and drop to the ground where they lose their wings, and attempt to start a new ant colony ^[7] The mass of flying insects often attracts the attention of predators such as birds, and it is common to see flocks of feeding birds gorging on the readily available food.
This phenomenon occurs in many colonies simultaneously when the local weather conditions are appropriate, to reduce the effectiveness of predation and to ensure that the queens and males from different colonies stand a chance of meeting and interbreeding. It therefore has the appearance of being a ‘timed’ event or that the ants somehow communicate. However neither of these is likely to be the case – it is simply a common response to temperature, humidity and windspeed and time of year.

Classes start today. I have 17 hours a week and 6 new students.