Ants Nest

A "normal" Saturday with a twist. Last week rain stopped be finishing cutting the grass at the Lodge so I had half of it with two weeks growth. I needed to replace a plank in the verandah as it was broken by a guest (my fault for not spotting it had become weak). Clickychick needed to finish quickly to check on her Mum who isn't well again.

As you can imagine when in a hurry the extra work wasn't welcome. On one of the banks which surround the lodge we have a concrete copy of an Ammonite (a link to CC's past life when she had the Gem Den). To keep the grass tidy around it I pick it up and move it mow the grass and replace. I have been doing this now for 10 years and during that time there has been an Ants next underneath.

The routine if the same. Mow to a foot or so away from the ammonite, pick it up and place it on the part I have mowed mow put to the edge of the bare part, then replace. Yo day it was as full as I have ever seen it so I decided to take a few shots. I am not sure what a casual observer would think of a grown man lying on the grass with his camera an inch or so from a bare patch of earth.

Insects are a branch of wildlife that I know very little about but I do know that in general ants bite. However I understand there is one species which doesn't bite. I am beginning to suspect this may be a nest of that kind. In all these years of handling the ammonite I have never been bitten. Today when I got up after a couple of minutes taking shots my arms were covered with a couple of dozen ants - still no bites

If any blipper happens to be an "antologist" (or what ever they are called) I would welcome an identification and any information they can supply.

The picture shows larvae to the left and pupae to the right.