ANTS
Flying ant season
The winged ants of summer are young queens and males of the black garden ant. A mated queen can found a colony of more than 20,000 workers and live up to 15 years.
Compare colony sizes
A PLAIN-ENGLISH GUIDE TO SOCIAL INSECTS
One queen,
thousands of daughters.
Some insects live alone. Others live in families.
In a social insect colony, a queen lays the eggs and her worker daughters do almost everything else: foraging, building and guarding. Black garden ants, social wasps and bumblebees all live this way in UK gardens.
QUEEN and her workers
Meet the colonies- A queen lays
- Workers work
- New queens leave
- Then it starts again
THE SHORT ANSWER
Three colonies,
three different lives.
All run by a queen,
but on very different timetables.
WASPS
Paper architects
Of over 7,000 UK wasp species, just nine build nests for a colony. A queen starts alone, chewing wood with saliva into a pulp she moulds into cells.
Why wasps matter
BUMBLEBEES
A summer family
A bumblebee queen starts each nest from scratch. A well-established nest holds up to 400 bees and usually lasts two to six months.
Live alongside them
LIVING ALONGSIDE A COLONY
Watch,
and give them space.
Most social insects in gardens are busy with their own lives. These tips come from the Natural History Museum and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Expect flying ants in summer
Swarms can appear from June to early September, on warm, still days when the weather has improved. There is a flying ant season, not a single day.
Look under paving
Black garden ants nest in dry soil under slabs and patios. Heaps of soil above a nest can appear in the weeks before swarming.
Leave bumblebee nests alone
They last a few months, cause no structural damage, and are uncommon. Bumblebees usually only sting if they feel threatened.
Spot a wasp at work
A wasp chewing a wooden fence is gathering material for its nest, which it builds from wood mixed with saliva.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Pest control,
and a long-lived queen.
One figure for wasps,
one for ants.
≈ 14 million kg
Insect prey caught by UK social wasps each summer
Adult wasps feed on sugars, but hunt caterpillars, greenfly and other prey to feed their larvae, which makes them natural pest controllers.
SOCIAL WASPS · NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
up to 15 years
How long a queen can live
Queens of Lasius niger can generally live up to 15 years, and in captivity have reached 28. Males live only a day or two after the nuptial flight.
BLACK GARDEN ANT · NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Bumblebee and social wasp colonies last only one season: in winter only the new queens survive, hibernating alone.
HOW BIG DOES IT GET?
How many insects
share one nest?
Pick a colony. The value shows how many insects it can hold at its peak, and the bar gives a rough sense of size, from a few dozen to tens of thousands.
Figures from the Natural History Museum and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Real nests vary with species, weather and food.
WHY COLONIES MATTER
Soil, food,
and a butterfly.
Ant tunnels improve soil, and flying ant swarms feed birds such as swifts and gulls. Social wasps are apex predators: the Museum's wasp expert says that if they are not doing well, something is wrong with the world.
Black garden ants and cornfield ants are particularly important to the silver-studded blue butterfly on heathland. The ants tend its caterpillars and protect them from predators, in a relationship that benefits both.
Questions
Questions people ask
What is a social insect?
One that lives in a colony where a queen lays the eggs and workers, her daughters, gather food, build the nest and care for the young. Some wasps and bees are social; many others live alone.
Is there really a flying ant day?
Not quite. A Royal Society of Biology citizen science project found winged ants emerge over several weeks, with several short peaks, on warm, calm days. The NHM calls it a flying ant season.
Why do flying ants have wings?
Winged ants are young queens and males. They fly to mate with ants from other colonies; afterwards a mated queen chews off her wings and starts a new nest underground.
Do wasp nests get reused?
No. A social wasp colony lasts one season: workers die off in late autumn, and only newly emerged females hibernate. Survivors start new colonies when the weather warms.
How long does a bumblebee nest last?
Usually two to six months, depending on species, food and weather. Queens always start a new nest from scratch, though a different queen may use the same spot.
Sources
- Natural History Museum: Flying ant day, when winged ants take their nuptial flight
- Natural History Museum: Why do wasps build nests?
- Natural History Museum: What do wasps do?
- Bumblebee Conservation Trust: The bumblebee lifecycle
- Bumblebee Conservation Trust: Bumblebee nests
Updated