Saving England's most threatened species from extinction
Archive:
22nd May 2020
Discover Ants with a Wildlife Nest Quest During Lockdown Back from the Brink and Buglife are inviting people to take part in a unique wildlife quest during their daily exercise outdoors. If you happen to see a wood ant nest during your walk, run or cycle, you can now take part in Nest Quest,...
Read more21st April 2020
Being a conservation volunteer on the Narrow-headed Ant project... I have always been a passionate nature lover and concerned by the damage we have done to our beautiful planet. So, last year I did some environmental recovery work abroad and when I came back I wanted to continue to volunteer in some way and give...
Read more25th March 2019
Winter = staying snug indoors in the nest, stockpiling resources, occasionally venturing out on the brief warmer days... And so are the ants! Our own activity has continued likewise. Mark the timeline: at 13.11pm on 26 November 2018 a quietly significant moment happened – Narrow-headed Ants returned to Bovey Heathfield nature reserve (their penultimate...
Read more5th August 2018
The fact is we know next to nothing. Now is the field season and chance for ant observations, yet each new discovery prompts more questions, as on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, pushing back the boundaries of ignorance. We knew aphid honeydew was an important dietary component (an ant energy drink) and expected oak, birch, and gorse...
Read more21st March 2018
Early morning frost cladding reduces the gorse and grass tussocks to outlines, two-dimensional and extra spiky, in the first trickles of winter sunlight. The frozen landscape reaches up to snow-capped Haytor on the rising edge of Dartmoor nearby. Whilst the ant queens and wintering workers are tactically bunkered deep down and dormant in their lower...
Read more13th October 2017
I’ve come to see a thatched dwelling in Devon. There are plenty of those in the county, but not like this one. I’m nowhere near to a village scene from a chocolate box or tea towel; instead, I’m sitting among gorse and Purple Moor Grass on a patch of rugged heathland.
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