At about nine o'clock yesterday evening, I'd finished what I was doing for the day and was settling in for an hour of YouTube before bed when I noticed a post by one of my friends on Facebook. He lives about a mile from me and had posted about large numbers of flying ants. The news I'd been waiting for.
I grabbed my pre-prepared queen capture kit and dashed out.
There is a place not far from home that I go through regularly on my bike, it is overgrown abandoned industrial land with large amounts of broken concrete and low human footfall, an ant haven.
It took me a few minutes to tune my old eyes in and spot the first but became easier after that and I got home with what I believe to be four lasius flavus queens and six lasius niger queens. I could have got more but the light was fading.
The work and experiments start here but I was well pleased with the way the working week has ended
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