After the first heavy showers of the monsoon, winged termites appear around porch lights and window sills across the island. These are alates — the reproductive caste — leaving an established nest to start new colonies. The swarm itself lasts an hour or two. What matters is where it came from.
The swarm itself is harmless
If the termites are flying in through open windows and gathering around outdoor lights, they are almost certainly coming from a nest outside: a tree stump, a fence post, or soil in the garden. That is normal seasonal behaviour, and the swarm needs no treatment. Sweep up the shed wings in the morning and check that window screens are intact.
Signs that mean a nest is inside
The signs that deserve attention are different. Wings piling up on indoor window sills when windows were closed. Termites emerging from a skirting board, a door frame or a crack in a wall. Mud tubes — narrow earth-coloured tunnels — running up a foundation wall or along a pipe. Any of these means a colony is feeding inside or under the building, and has been for some time.
Do not spray the swarm or break open the mud tubes. Disturbing the colony makes termites abandon the visible trail and feed somewhere harder to find, which turns a straightforward treatment into a longer one. Leave the evidence in place and book an inspection — a technician reads exactly those signs to map how far the activity has spread.
A yearly perimeter walk
Once a year, walk your own perimeter: look at door frames, window frames and the base of walls for mud tubes, tap exposed timber for a hollow sound, and check the garden for old stumps and timber stored against the house. Termites found at this stage cost a fraction of what they cost after a year of feeding.