View from the top

 

Imagine being this wood Ant (Formica rufa) surveying the vast wild expanse of the forest before you from the vantage of this towering Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea); must be a different world. Puts me in mind of Brian Aldiss' sci-fi novel Hothouse where far future humans live on an Earth choked with giant plants; good read if you enjoy the fantasy genres.

Antz

 

It doesn't take much Sun to wake the wood ants (Formica rufa), and the inhabitants of every ant hill we passed this morning were all wide awake.

Mega structure

You'll see some good sized Wood Ants nests around the forest, although this one was something else; no doubt built on a rotting stump it stood at maybe 1.2m or more high. A nest this substantial could accommodate up to 250,000 Formica rufa ants; the mound seethed and it's surrounds were alive with the distinctive red and black ants. Quite the sight. Almost immediately I was under siege from the colony's inhabitants, or at least under investigation. Consequently I took my shot and moved away; although not a threat, wood ants do secrete formic acid (the same acid which produces the sting from nettles) and can spit their acid several feet when pissed. What's really amazing is that there were a dozen or more nests of various sizes in closish proximity; there must be so many ants out there.

Wood ants

A colony of Wood Ants (Formica ......, I'm not sure which specific type of Wood Ant) appear to have collected the flowing buds of nearby spruce trees and surrounded their nest with them. The purpose of this I'm not sure, if there is one, maybe it's just that the buds were a handy building material and have graded themselves through weathering, whatever, it does make for visually interesting image, particularly in its moss green setting.