A swarm of flying ants spotted over the South-East was so big it could be seen from space.

The Met Offices weather radar picked up the cloud of ants, around 50 miles wide, on their radar over Kent and Sussex earlier this morning (July 18).

On the weather map provided by The Met Office the hoards of ants appeared to be rain clouds but at a closer look it turned out it was the sheer mass of insects setting of the radar.

As well as the larger groups of ants in the South-East there were smaller swarms which can be seen over London.

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The full tweet from the the forecaster said: "It's not raining in London, Kent or Sussex, but our radar says otherwise...

"The radar is actually picking up a swarm of flying ants across the southeast. During the summer ants can take to the skies in a mass emergence usually on warm, humid and windless days flying ant day. "

This latest swarm of insects comes as part of the yearly phenomenon known as Flying Ant Day. Despite its name it's really a series of days each summer when ants seem to take over.

This day changes every year and is sometimes several different days in the summer. In past studies carried out by the Royal Society of Biology and its volunteers, it was found flying ants can be spotted from June and the start of September.

Normally during the warmer months here in the UK ants take to the skies in a mass emergence usually on warm, humid and windless days.

This phenomenon happens when males and new queens venture out of the nest to mate, according to theRoyal Society of Biology.

Many colonies do this at the same time when the weather conditions are just right.

Ants, including the black garden antLasius niger,do this to start new colonies.

New ant colonies start when a female flying ant leaves their former colony to start a new one.

You can spot the queen because she is larger than the female worker ants and has wings.

Both males and females fly on this day, going away from their nest to try and mate with an ant from another colony and begin a new colony.

The Royal Society of Biology explains the mating process: "When far enough away, the females and males commence breeding, with mating taking place during flight and the male dying shortly after.

"The fertilised female then lands, chews off her wings, then goes about creating a new colony or finding an existing one and starts to produce offspring."

Excerpt from:

Flying ant swarm so huge it could be seen from space hits South East - Cambridgeshire Live