Have you been caught up in a swarm of flying ants? And is there really a special "flying ant day"? Read on to discover more… 1. Flying ants are just normal ants – with wings! The ants we are most used to seeing are female black garden ants, marching around collecting food. But during summer, winged males and new queens of the same species take flight! 2. They fly to set up new ant colonies. The ants take to the skies so that queens can mate with males from different colonies, and set up new nests of their own. 3. They only swarm during hot summer weather. For a swarm of ants to occur, conditions must be just right – they are usually triggered by hot and humid weather in July or August. 4. "Flying ant day" is a myth. Because so many ants appear in the same place at the same time, the phenomenon is often known as "flying ant day" – but it's really more of a short flying ant season. Depending on weather, the winged insects may appear in different parts of the country any time between June and September. 5. They're harmless. These flying beasties might be super annoying, but they won't hurt you. Plus they provide loads of extra food for hungry birds! 6. Female flying ants are bigger than males. Brave enough to take a closer look? You'll see that some of the winged ants are much larger than others. The bigger ones are the queens – they're up to 15mm in length. 7. Queens bite their own wings off! After mating, queens chew off their wings and crawl around looking for a place to dig a new nest. Look out for their discarded wings on the floor! 8. Flying ants are also called alates, the name given to the winged form of many insects.