Ants

The ants are out, with frantic energy innumerable Wood Ants (formica rufa) busy themselves around their nest. Aggressive little buggers.

Here comes the Sun

 

At the slightest hint of any Sun, no matter how fleeting, the Wood Ants (Formica rufa) are out and active. A good sized nest can house upwards of 250,000 ants, and I can't imagine how many nersts in the forest, there must be hundreds of millions, if not billions of Wood Ants out there. That's quite a thought.

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.

Oooh, that must smart!

Oooh, that must smart! This slow Worm (Anguis fragilis) tried to remain all nonchalant as fiery Wood Ants (Formica rufa) climbed all over it, until one got on its nose. The Slow Worm didn't like that! Not acting so cool, it moved off at great speed. As you would. Wood Ants spit formic acid, one of the active chemicals found in Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica), and no one wants that up there nose.