June 1st :Around and About

It has been stormy the last few days and the ground very wet underfoot. I took another walk up the back of the house.

I walked past the ant nests 3 of them on the walkway at the back each entrance in the middle of 2-3ft of clearing where grass had been cut down by the ants.
It was mating time. Winged ants were climbing out of the nests on mass with hundereds of other ants milling around extending as far as 3-4 feet away from the nest. As I took photos I was getting large soldier ants climbing up my shoes and legs.
I could hear the hundreds footsteps of the ants as there were so many of them foraging around on the soil and grasses, it sounded like gentle fizzing sound to the ear.

Some were flying straight up but most seemed to be crawling out of the nest and 'getting at the task in hand' desperately driven by the urge to mate, they found other ants and started mating, on the ground groups of 4-5 ants.

Storms started to roll in again, very quickly, the couds changing shape continiously and they rolled in overhead darkening the sky. It was time to head back as the occasional large drop of rain started to fall on me.

I made it back to the house just in time before it poured with rain heavy triopical like rain. A great start to the Hurricane season, everyone has been saying over the last few days here.

The wind drove the rain hard.

There was too much rain for the gutters to hold as it poured over the edges. The grassy areas became pools of water.

After the storms I went out the back again . The ant nests were quiet now and yet there were piles of winged ants laying around huddled together. Unable to get back into the nest maybe.

I'm assuming this was a tactic to ensure safety during the heavy rain and wind. They were wet and motionless yet alive.

The evening calmed down became humid again and after the sun set there was no more wind or rain.