I know how you feel, a couple of years ago I was in a hide at the wrong time, the common black garden ant [lasius niger] decided that this was the moment to sprout wings and fly and find flying queens to mate with, I packed up the hide and went home.
It happens every year during a small window between late July and late August, it is very dependant on temperature and atmospheric pressure, the males and queen ants produce wings and fly to mate the males die and the queens set up new colonies which are dormant until next spring.
