Today (Saturday 17th May) I collected a dealate Lasius brunneus queen on the bark of a mature oak in an area of Epping Forest known as Bury Wood. The weather conditions were more akin to a day in July with the temperature around 23 degrees C.and very light winds. The earliest date for finding queens before today goes back to the 26th May 2007, the weather conditions on that day were temperatures of 24-25 degrees C and very bright sunshine and no wind. I continued my search for approximately forty five minutes after the capture but did not find any further specimens. It may well be that there will be more alates at large if the current warm and still conditions persist. Lasius brunneus is abundant in all areas so far searched in the forest.