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LIVE 24-SEVEN


94


SWARM WELCOME THIS SUMMER! GIVE WILDLIFE A


Always happiest in the midst of wildlife of some form or another, Gwent Wildlife Trust’s Senior Conservation Ecologist Andy Karran explains why ‘birds of a feather and other creatures’ flock to together and swarm.


It’s summer and insects are swarming, but what exactly is a swarm and why do creatures swarm?


A swarm is defined as a “a large number of things”, it is generally used to describe a large number of animals grouped together - and most typically insects. There is quite often a negative connotation, with swarms of locusts causing destruction, or people being fearful of swarms of bees. Animals swarm for a reason, and that’s not to annoy us but to aid their own survival. We will take a look at some of these swarming animals and why they do it. We will also throw semantics to one side and include flocks of birds and shoals of fish as these are just swarms under another name.


When I think of swarms it is bees, wasps and ants that first come to mind, and interestingly these insects all are in the same group: Hymenoptera. Many of these are social insects and this very much lends itself to the formation of swarms. These swarms are linked to reproduction and dispersal. Honey Bees usually swarm in spring time and it is their way of setting up a new colony. The Queen will ensure new ‘Queen producing eggs’ are laid in her


hive, after which she doesn’t eat much, so she is light enough to fly. She then sets off to find a suitable location to start a new colony, taking lots of her loyal workers with her. This is the swarm. People are fearful of these swarms and whilst I wouldn’t recommend getting too close, the bees are likely to be less aggressive at this time as they don’t actually have a hive and young to defend.


You may well have ants swarming all over your patio as you read this, but when I think of ant swarms I think of the flying ants that appear from seemingly nowhere on a summer’s day. Again, this is all to do with reproduction and dispersal to set up new colonies. Interestingly, the strategy between the ants and the bees differs in one crucial aspect. For the Honey Bee it is the old Queen who disperses to set up a new colony leaving developing fresh Queens behind. For the ants, however, the old Queen stays in the nest and it is the new Queens (charmingly known as princesses until they establish a new colony) who disperse. So, the swarms of flying ants you see are the dispersing new females and associated males (drones), all the non-fertile worker ants remaining in the


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GWENT WI LDL I F E TRUST SWARM WE LCOME


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