Thousands. No millions. Sorry, forget that, it's probably billions. Yes, billions of ants have taken to the skies of London in their annual mating flight, and those that survive hungry birds and spiders' webs will soon shed their wings and die.
The point to this apparently futile existence is procreation. Winged males and females synchronise their flight with other colonies, so it seems the UK's entire flying ant population is airbourne at the same time. It's thought the flight is triggered by heat, so today [Weds 25 July] should be THE DAY. It maybe a tad later in the north of the UK, particularly as the North is forecast to have more rain as the South sizzles.
Most of the males will not survive the week. The females will go on to establish new colonies. It's a weird way to go about your life. This mass, synchronised orgy isexplained by experts to be a way of surviving predation and/or widening the ant gene pool. A bit like the human habit of going clubbing at the end of the week.
Whatever the reason, it's pay-day for birds (and pay-night for bats). All that juicy ant protein clumsily flying around makes for the best feast day of the year; plumping up migrant birds such as swifts and giving fledglings plenty to help them grow.
It's an ant explosion that maintains the species and it seems we people have been doing something similar. London's human population has shot up from the previous estimate of some 7 million towards 8.2 million.
Bearing in mind we were facing a water shortage a few months back - before the floods - it's a worrying trend. How will we accomodate, feed and provide for this growing population? Our farmers are struggling to grow and rear the food we eat and the stress of sustaining Londoners is having an impact on wildlife. It's time we all gave some serious thought to the way we treat the world we rely on.
The final arrival of summer should draw more of us outdoors. Pause briefly if you can, in the middle of the rush to accomodate the Olympics and its sideshows, to look at the natural athletes around you. The plants that grow and flourish where nothing else does. The speed of the bugs or birds overhead. Maybe the strength of a tiny ant carrying something huge across a baking hot pavement. Then be humbled by the sheer hard work nature puts in to survival.