A Bolton man has spoken out after witnessing flying ants ‘50 times bigger’ than regular ants in the borough.

The country is currently in the midst of flying ant season, with the critters said to emerge on days when the temperature is over 25°C, there is little wind, and there is a possibility of rain in the near future.

James Duxbury lives on Parkdale Road in Tonge.

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He witnessed "five or six" of the flying ants on Wednesday, July 17, and said his neighbour had seen "millions of them" on the footpaths in nearby Tonge Park.

James said the ants were about "50 times bigger" than regular ants – and has been warning his neighbours to keep their windows and doors closed.

He said: “They seem bigger than normal, because normal ones seem only tiny – but these are like fattish ones – I thought they were coming up from the gaps in the flags, because they lay their eggs underground and suddenly emerge.”

The 66-year-old added: “I’m sat in my garden chair in my backyard because it was nice, and I thought ‘what’s these crawling on me? They were flying ants.’

James said the ants have now died down – but he’s sprayed inside his home with fly killer.

He added: “I’d been sat in the backyard all morning with my back door open and my windows open, and I noticed these and thought ‘well if they’re there, they must have gone in the house’, so I sprayed around with fly killer.

“You don’t want them in your house because you end up with ants everywhere, and then they start flying into your bed at night and biting you.

“I thought, ‘well I’m not having them biting in my bed’.”

‘Flying Ant Day’ was marked on Wednesday, July 18 in 2024 but this is not likely to be exactly the same in 2025.

Researchers from the Royal Society of Biology refute the notion that flying ants emerge on a single day every year.

Previously, the Met Office has been able to track the insects with its weather radar.

Why are there so many flying ants this year?

According to the Evening Standard, the phenomenon occurs when young queen flying ants leave the nest to create their own colony and mate with male flying ants.

They tend to mate while they are flying because it increases their chances of reproduction.

Ant swarms are usually triggered by temperature, so the queen ants and males tend to leave the nest when the weather is hot and humid

The Evening Standard adds: “The winged ants appear at different times around the country – they tend to fly earlier in urban areas than rural areas because temperatures are generally warmer in towns and cities.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.