Looking for ant hill in London for photographs

[reginoble]

Hi everyone,

hope I'm posting this in the right section.

I'm a photographer and I am looking for a beautiful, classic ant hill to take pictures of. I am based in London, and it shouldn't be too far away.
Do you have any advice where I can find one (preferably in a forest area, but any other landscape, wildlife park, etc. will do).

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks,

Regine

[e-mail]

[Wood~Ant]

Hi Regine, and welcome to the Ant Hill World forum

I am not sure how far you wish to travel out of London, but South or South West into Kent, Surrey or East Sussex you should find the nest mounds of our local wood ant species, as Formica rufa can be found in all these counties. I know for certain they are in Ashdown Forest, but you can find them closer to London if you can find any conifer woods or pine tree forests with a sandy soil

You may find some to the North in Essex or across in Berkshire, but Kent abounds with them, as does Surrey and Sussex. So good luck and good hunting, and if you get any really nice photos of wood ants and their nests, then please do share them with us

[reginoble]

Hello dear Wood Ant,

thank you for the information and the welcome!

I will sure share the photos as soon as I have some. I am working on a little commission, and my idea to photograph an ant hill was to have a symbolic image of creation, or building something. Also, I simply like ant hills a lot.

I am in a bit of a time crunch though, that's why I'm not sure I can make it as far as Kent. But I might go down there some other time!

If anyone knows of anything closer, please let me know.
Thanks a lot,

Regine

[Wood~Ant]

Large cities like London aren't exactly renowned for having forests, and conifer woods are the best places to find ant hills. So you will have to travel outside of the capital I'm afraid to find what you are looking for
Try west, as it is best for pine forests and sandy heathlands.