Flying ants

[simont]

I just went out to get my lunch, and found that the whole of Cherry Hinton is absolutely crawling with ants. There are a lot of normal-looking ants swarming around the pavements, but also the whole place is teeming with winged things which look about the right size and shape to be flying ants.

I wonder how far the swarm extends. Anyone in other bits of Cambridge noticed any unusual insect activity today?

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

We've got them too. I think all the ants' nests do it on the same day; ours is very definitely near our tearoom!

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Not in Cambridge, but we had them in London at the weekend.

They tend to do it before a thunderstorm for some reason - something to do with atmospheric pressure I believe.

[ixwin.livejournal.com]

Yes I noticed that too - we had them in Harrow on Sunday afternoon.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Quite a lot of ants scuttling around on Station Road.

[emperor]

a few flying ants in the garage in Coventry this morning.

[isihac.livejournal.com]

I've only noticed the one today (Chesterton), and that's because my son was chasing it round the patio trying to get hold of it.

[theeighth.livejournal.com]

I hate ants. They're the dominant species on the planet. We should wipe them out now before they outnumber us too hopelessly.

[fanf]

http://www.google.com/search?q=bill+bailey+insect+nation

[uisgebeatha.livejournal.com]

There's a few flying ants among the horde who have clearly nested outside our doorstep. Also, there are super-large giant ants at the St. Johns Innovation Centre today. I heartily endorse Raid ant powder and loads of boiling water chucked in the general direction of the nest. :P

[simont]

But the nest appears to be the whole of Cherry Hinton! :-)

[uisgebeatha.livejournal.com]

Ah, then it must be the appointed time for the ant race to rise up and destroy Cherry Hinton in its quest to take over the fens, then. ;)

Are you pubbing later? I'm scraping together energy to come along. :)

[simont]

Now you're giving me a Bill Bailey earworm. Aah-aah-a-a-ah.

Yes, I expect to be pubbing as usual.

[uisgebeatha.livejournal.com]

*cackles evilly*

WRT the antses, the fount of all knowledge that is Radio 2 drivetime sa that it is, in fact, ant mating season, hence the swarms of them. I'm not sure what is worse, the unromantic thought of ants mating, or admitting to being a Radio 2 junkie...

[(Anonymous)]

Not the bit I'm looking at - near the Hall....

[stephdairy.livejournal.com]

As I arrived back from lunch someone shouted at me `watch out for the flying ants'. It struck me as odd, but if I see some flying ants I'll know what they were talking about.

(S)

[sacristan.livejournal.com]

In the "SLA Industries" sourcebook, there's a character called Cherry "Cerise" Hinton. I *just* got the joke...

I need to appreciate UK-ian geography more, damnit.

[simont]

Hmm. It's not obvious to me that that's a deliberate reference; Cherry Hinton is a mainly-residential suburb of Cambridge and probably has almost no fame outside it (unlike, say, London boroughs, whose names tend to be well known to many non-Londoners even if someone like me couldn't reliably locate any given one in even the right half of a map of London).

I suppose it's possible that someone trying to think up character names was inspired by noticing that the name of the town was also a plausible personal name, but it could just as easily have been coincidence, and I'd tend to doubt it was specifically intended to amuse.

[fanf]

It's famous to a certain kind of geek as the some-time address of Acorn and ARM.

[simont]

Which is, of course, what I'm doing here in the first place! But yes, hadn't occurred to me that that might make it famous in the same way as Redmond.

[teleute.livejournal.com]

Woot Redmond!

:-)

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

Pavements outside the canteen at Castle Park atop Castle Hill also covered in winged ants

[aldabra]

Roof terrace at Pizza Express has ginormous winged ants too.

So, if I want to catch a founder member for the AntWorks colony should it be winged or ginormous but unwinged?

[(Anonymous)]

Yes! Flying ants in Ely!

[fanf]

Plenty of flying ants between Nursery Walk and the city centre at lunch time.

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

We were informed around lunchtime of an imminent ant-based threat to the existence of our offices in Hungerford.

[gjm11.livejournal.com]

Flying ants, check. Afternoon, Cottenham.