Radars detect mile-long swarm of flying ants close to UK’s south coast

Jul 09, 2023 at 12:02 AM
Radars detect mile-long swarm of flying ants close to UK’s south coast

A mile-long swarm of flying ants has been picked up on a climate radar on the UK’s south coast – with extra anticipated within the coming days.

The bugs, which look much like rainfall on radars, had been detected by the Met Office on Friday, as individuals reported sightings on social media.

The day was dubbed “flying ant day”.

The forecaster stated the winged bugs are often picked up right now of the yr over the area of a couple of week.

“Every year around this time we do pick them up on the rain radar. At the moment it’s harder to tell because we’ve got so many showers and the ants look like showers,” Simon Partridge, a Met Office forecaster, stated.

“They could be seen a number of miles throughout. On Friday it was a couple of mile.

“It’s generally the southern parts of the UK where we tend to notice it most. When we do get the rain, they don’t fly as much.”

He stated no swarms had been picked up on Saturday on account of wetter climate.

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Flying ants are noticed when males and new queens go away the nest to mate, with many colonies doing so on the identical day.

They could be seen on as many as 96% of days between June and September, in accordance with the Royal Society of Biology.