|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 1, 2013 16:20:49 GMT
This is hopefully the first of a few videos I want to post on my favourite British ant species. I was sad to find that the forestry guys have sawn down a lot of trees, making many of the old nest mounds I used to visit either covered over with gorse, or hidden from view along the old trail walks we used to follow years ago. Here is the small satellite nest belonging to a huge mother nest which we found today.
|
|
|
Post by IceWhyte on May 4, 2013 22:10:45 GMT
Great video. I still haven't seen these in the wild yet.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 5, 2013 8:24:28 GMT
Great video. I still haven't seen these in the wild yet. You won't see F. rufa as far north as Scotland, as they are predominantly found south of the Lake District, into Wales; and are very abundant south of the M4 corridor. Wood ants which are far more easily found in the north are, Formica aquilonia and F. lugubris. Aquilonia can be found up in the highlands, even in forests high up near the mountains. Lugubris tends to be more of a lowland ant from southern Scotland, ranges down as far south as Wales and along the Pennine Chain to Derbyshire; but is still found just north of Edinburgh, though this species is harder to find where you live.
|
|
|
Post by IceWhyte on May 5, 2013 11:07:16 GMT
I have heard stories from forestry workers of areas which are covered in wood ant mounds, so hopefully this summer I will go find them and determine which type they are. From what I have read, aquilonia are found further north, the caledonian pine forests around Cairngorms and even in the Isle of Mull, but it will be interesting to see if there are any around here as I wouldn't imagine it would be documented.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 5, 2013 12:11:09 GMT
Formica aquilonia are very prevalent west of Aberdeen and around Inverness, and stretch across to the west coast just to the north of Glasgow. I would imagine large areas of pine forests with sandy open heathland nearby should have some thriving nests, as all wood ants seem to nest along forest woodland trails and on the outer borders of sandy heaths not far away from coniferous woods.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 7, 2013 15:00:54 GMT
Jen and I have been out to where we used to find dozens of Formica rufa nests today, but sadly a lot of the mounds I knew about in 1997 have either gone, or owing to the deforestation of some areas, which has turned them into open heath full of gorse and other low growing shrubs, I can only find a small fraction of the nests I used to know. Here is one I hope to check on later in June, as that is the time when winged alates appear; and maybe if I'm lucky I may even get to see them fly.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 9, 2013 7:52:50 GMT
I recently emailed the Sussex Wildlife Trust regarding the alarming decline in the general wood ant population around Graffham Common where I visit, as many of the Formica rufa mounds I used to see 10 years ago have vanished; and even those we saw back in 2011 have been overgrown with gorse or covered by tree felling. Owing to the fact that wood ants help maintain the delicate ecosystem of wild forests and woodland, the preservation of these ants is of vital importance, and to find this species so badly decimated in my local area is distressing and a disaster to the local balance of nature. The number of nests found so far are around 75% less than they were 10 years ago. I did have a reply from the trust to say they have forwarded my email to their ecology department, as they are responsible for the care of the flora and fauna of this region, which of course includes all the wildlife under which the ants are protected. While management of forests is necessary, this should not be to the extent that it effects local wildlife in such a way that entire wood ant nests and populations are being destroyed, which from my personal observations of this lovely area have shown that F. rufa appears to be on the decline.
|
|
|
Post by deansyme on May 9, 2013 18:53:39 GMT
How hard would it be to get pupae or larvae from one of these colonies? Just wondering if it would be possible to try and rear some young queens to small colonies and reintroduce them to areas where they are less of them.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 9, 2013 22:12:53 GMT
How hard would it be to get pupae or larvae from one of these colonies? Just wondering if it would be possible to try and rear some young queens to small colonies and reintroduce them to areas where they are less of them. It is easy enough to find winged males and females Dean, or even to pick up newly mated queens if you catch the time of their nuptial flights right. The main problem is newly mated wood ant queens need either (a) to be taken back to their mother nest by foraging workers, or (b) to become a partial social parasite of other Formica species such as F. fusca. A new queen, or even a small group of new queens simply don't have the capability of establishing a new colony by themselves. This may sound odd, but this social parasite stage begins much like many other ants such as Formica sanguinea for example. It is necessary for initial founding of a new colony. Whereas if they are found by worker sisters and returned to their original nest, the fact that an old nest is already established and probably contains their mothers, aunts or sisters, does make it easier for very young queens to be adopted back. As long as their colony scent is the same, or very closely related to the parent nests inhabitants, they are reintroduced back safely. It is also very difficult keeping a captive colony, even with cocooned pupae taken from a wild nest to provide workers.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on May 10, 2013 7:36:19 GMT
I had an email back from the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
I have forwarded your email to Graeme Lyons, and the information he has given me is that the management that we are currently carrying out at Graffham (approximately 70% removal of pine trees and scraping of the litter layer) is heavily focused on benefiting invertebrates and Formica rufa and sanguinea will benefit from this, along with many other warmth loving invertebrate species that require sunlight to reach the ground.
I believe this work is being done at West Graffham, but the area I am concerned about where the wood ants are in decline is closer to the villages of Heyshott and Ambersham, so I have contacted the trust again for more information. It is so disheartening to see an area of woodland and the edges of the heathland knowing how many ant nests there were, and then finding many of the nests are either abandoned or have gone forever; and even though F. rufa makes long trails where they constantly walk, even these were devoid of what should have shown hundreds of foraging wood ants.
|
|
|
Post by deansyme on May 10, 2013 13:46:46 GMT
Unfortunately I haven't found any wood ant nests near me...not even in the large pine forests of our country parks...as would be tempted to try and see if I could find a way to boost their numbers.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 9, 2013 17:38:22 GMT
I haven't been out to see if what few nests I have found have any winged male and female alates this month, as mid to late June is the right time for F. rufa to fly; and the area around the Serpent Trail near Heyshott Common where I find these ants is run by South Downs National ParkI have emailed them recently to ask if they have anyone who can tell me why there is such a decline in the local wood ant nests in that area.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Jan 30, 2014 15:20:20 GMT
Owing to the loss of nest mounds and the decline of so many of the colonies in the woodlands and commons where there used to be so many nests, I have tried to find out why this has happened, but my emails to the local organization that cares for the area concerned have been ignored. So I have now contacted both the Sussex Wildlife Trust and my local newspaper to see if anything can be done, as the future of this area and the conservation of the flora and fauna is of vital importance; and the ants do keep large numbers of pest insects in the trees down as the large nests used to consume thousands of insects each day. I estimate that between 70 and 75% of the local wood ant population has been decimated, which to an ant lover like myself is such a tragic loss.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 14, 2014 18:36:57 GMT
I have had a meeting today with a wildlife warden from the Sussex Wildlife Trust. He showed me some local new common preserve areas, and he was thrilled when we found a large Formica rufa nest in the Graffham Common reserve, as he has never seen wood ants there before. Other good news is I have located several large nest mounds in the woodland where I feared the nest were in decline. Some were actually old colonies who have relocated to new nest sites, so I will monitor their progress over the coming summer. I am so glad that the area has a healthy number of wood ant nests, as there are still a few places where they have gone from, but I am helping the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre to bring their ant population records up to date; and inform them of any areas where ants are thriving or where the number have decreased. The fog lifted as I arrived today and we had a lovely warm sunny day for our little ant hunting expedition.
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 21, 2014 11:19:01 GMT
Now I have found new nest sites as well as several of the old nests I thought were lost, my plan from April and through the coming summer is to add more video footage of wild wood ants to this topic. All I can say at this point is WATCH THIS SPACE.
|
|