Each Year Flying Ants Emerge Across the U.K. And Yes, They’re Annoying.

“Flying ant day” in Britain is all about sex. Picture it: millions of tiny little winged ants soaring into the sky in a ritualistic orgy under the hot sun.

Let that sink in.

For about six weeks at the height of summer in Britain, typically between mid-July through the early days of September, winged ants emerge from their colonies and ascend to the air to find a mate. They are everywhere. And, despite the name, it’s not just one day, but many days.

“There’s often a day where it seems when you look on social media and across the newspapers, that ants have flown and it becomes this ‘flying ant day,’” said Adam Hart, a professor of science communication at the University of Gloucestershire, more than 100 miles northwest of London.

“We have lots of such days,” he noted. “But generally, you end up with one that it seems to attract a lot of attention.”

Tilly Collins, a senior fellow at the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, said that the purpose of all the ant sex was to find partners with whom they could create new colonies. “This is simply how ant species all over the world tend to reproduce,” she said.

The mating action has gained notoriety partly because the insects become nuisances to anyone outdoors at the wrong time. In 2017, they invaded Wimbledon, flying onto the court, bags and players.