entering the hungry skies…

Flying ant day!

Rejoice in our social insects.

A glorious site as, at some mysterious signal, hundreds of male winged ants emerge from their nest and fly in what is termed their ‘nuptial flight’. The purpose of the flight is for newly-emerged males to mate with virgin queens who will become fertilised and go on to form new ant colonies.

There are more ants than any other insect, making up half of the planet’s insect biomass. There are at least 14,000 known species of ant, with many more likely to remain unknown.

And here, all that biomass is entering our hungry skies. Food for invertebrate, mammalian and avian predators.

I’m a believer.