Experts have warned that Britain is bracing itself for a massive surge in flying ants, driven by the perfect combination of intermittent wet and warm weather sweeping across the UK.

Known as Flying Ant Day, the annual mating flight, during which millions of winged ants fill the skies in synchronised swarms, could be among the most significant in recent memory.

Despite its name, the event typically unfolds over several days and has even been known to stretch across a number of weeks.

According to specialists at Best Ants UK, this year's will 'likely come earlier and be more intense than before' due to warmer weather.

According to the Natural History Museum, flying ants are formally known as alates. Across the UK, particularly in urban settings, the winged insects observed are almost exclusively the sexually mature queens and males of the black garden ant, Lasius niger.

The larger of the ants are the queens, which can reach up to 15 millimetres in length.

National History Museum experts also note that ants tend to take flight earlier in urban areas than in rural locations, most likely due to the warmer temperatures generated by cities, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the urban heat island effect.

A blog post on Best Ants UK adds that swarms tend to first appear in places like Cornwall and Kent before spreading north across Britain.