Swarms of flying ants are set to appear over our homes any day now as temperatures rise above average.
Although it is commonly known as "flying ant day" the phenomenon hits different parts of the country at different times.
Last year, swathes of the South West - such as Devon, Cornwall and Bristol - were infiltrated on June 24, while in 2019 it was on July 22 and in 2018 it was July 18.
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Based on this pattern, the insects could arrive at any point in the next few weeks, Devon Live reports.
Every year a new queen ant decides to leave and start her own colony with thousands of males, in what is called "nuptial day" by scientists.
It doesn't matter if they've got wings or not, all ant colonies will go through this process.
Professor Adam Hart at the University of Gloucestershire theorised that "flying ant day" occurs when it is very warm with little breeze.
An information page on the Royal Society of Biology website quoted his research.
It states: "Ants only flew [sic] when the temperature was above 13C and when the wind speed was less than 6.3 metres per second but overall ants like it calm and warm.
"During the course of the study, every day in the UK summer that had a mean temperature above 25C had ants flying somewhere."
With the mercury set to soar in coming weeks, always check for ants before leaving the house.
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