A Southampton man has described his shock after flying ants swarmed the streets of Southampton on Thursday.

Eric Khairy could feel the insects flying into him while walking home.

It was only when he got home and searched on the internet which led him to find out about Flying Ant Day.

The phenomenon refers to when virgin queens mate with males before starting new colonies.

For humans, this means a large number of ants whizzing around.

One of the flying ants spotted in SouthamptonOne of the flying ants spotted in Southampton (Image: Eric Khairy)

The natural event has been described as "early Christmas" for seagulls, who enjoy feasting on the insects.

READ MORE: Large flying ants arrive in Southampton – here's why and what to do

Speaking to the Echo, dad of two Eric said: “I went to have a haircut in Bitterne, got out and went into Sainsbury’s and on the way back I started noticed things were bumping into me. I started looking around and saw they were everywhere.

“I thought it was just in that area but I was looking around Bitterne Road East and they were everywhere.”

When he got home he spotted a colony of flying ants that had taken hold of a hole on the wall of his conservatory.

The ants outside the conservatoryThe ants outside the conservatory (Image: Eric Khairy)

He said: “I saw this colony of them going into a hole on the outside wall of my conservatory.”

Eric, who has previously lived in Canada but is originally from Egypt, did not know about the natural phenomenon before.

“It wasn’t something I knew about until now, I didn’t realise it was an actual thing. I just felt them bumping into me and didn’t know what it was all about. Maybe it's because I have only lived in England since January last year.

“I even started seeing mothers with their babies on the road and started thinking whether that would be dangerous to them.”

He added: "I am into AI and thought this incident could resemble a scene from a sci-fi movie or comic."

While it has been dubbed 'Flying Ant Day', a project by the Royal Society of Biology found that the widely held idea is a misconception.

They found rather than a single day, it is more of a season. 

Swarming is triggered by the weather and tends to happen in July or August.

The study discovered that ants only flew on days when it was warm.

The Natural History Museum said the winged ants appear at different times around the country and local weather conditions are critical for the coordination of swarming activity.