Flying ants have landed in Dublin in their millions - as this skin-crawling video shows.
This squirming footage shot in north Dublin yesterday shows thousands of the critters crawling around the seaside village of Portmarnock.
Local beach campaigner and all-year-round swimmer Cathy McMahon shot the footage, simply commenting: "Flying ants out and about in the village!"
Nature lover Cathy made international headlines earlier this summer when she and fellow anti-sewage plant activist Sabrina Joyce-Kemper rescued a bottlenose dolphin that had become stranded at the popular beach with help from cute doggy Brandy and owner Richard Nolan.
While Cathy wouldn't be at all squeamish, some of those commenting under her latest video don't like the little eight-legged winged critters.
One wrote: "Full of them in Howth as well. Hate them."
Another felt that given how this year has gone so far, a plague of flying ants were quite fitting. She commented: "They were all over Seabrook Manor this afternoon. Very on brand for 2020."
Flying ants do serve their purpose in the food chain, however, as another non fan noted, saying: "Hate them but they are food for the birds and the bats!"
Last week we told how the swarm was on its way.
The harmless insects take to the skies around this time every year for mating season in a phenomenon known as Flying Ant Day.
Here’s everything you need to know about the great flying ant invasion.
Why do flying ants come out on the same time every year?
Flying Ant Day is when male and female ants sprout wings and venture out of their nests on a "nuptial flight", seeking ants from other colonies to mate with.
According to the Society of Biology, nuptial flight is an important phase in the reproduction of the ant species. During the flight, virgin queens mate with males and then land to start a new colony.
The flying ants you encounter in your town or garden are almost certainly the black garden variety, the Lasius niger.
Their nests have a single queen and typically around 5,000 workers, although there can be as many as 15,000.
The ants are harmless, and are unlikely to bite anyone - and while you mightn't like them, they normally only hand around for a few days.
Plus, as noted above, they make a nice snack for swallows, swifts and bats. Not to mention unsuspecting cyclists... Yum!
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