
Insects
Black garden ant
Low risk- What it looks like
- Small, 3 to 5 mm, black and shiny; marches in lines along skirting boards and worktops in spring and summer.
- The signs
- A trail from a gap in the back door or a crack in the floor to anything sweet; flying ants on one warm humid day in July.
- The risk
- A nuisance more than a risk: they contaminate food but do not bite or damage the house.
- What we do
- Gel bait on the trail that the workers carry back to the nest, which is gone within a week.