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[Joyce]

Seen more ants than usual this year, must be something to do with the weather. So long as they remain outdoors I don't mind.

[CLKD]

I always put jars of cheap jam outside the house which they take back to the nest - contents not the jars    … that way they don't come into the house searching for sugar.

[Joyce]

I was going to say, mighty strong ants in your neck of the wood CLKD. 

[CLKD]

  ……….. reminds me a song from my childhood about an ant breaking a dam ………

[CLKD]

"High Hopes" ?

[Joyce]

Grrrr gonna be singing that now CLKD. 

[CLKD]

   ………. I wonder what happened to the little boy who sang the 'line' on his own …….

[Ali08]

Just see the bee posts and wish I'd seen them earlier. Just moved house and noticed last week there were loads of bees in the garden which I thought was quite nice then noticed a few days later many more bees buzzing in and out of the decking. Lifted some decking planks and discovered a massive hive with thousands of bees swarming in and out of it by then - quite scary when you have a young child and dog that want to play in the garden. I'm sorry to say we had to get the pest control man to take it away tonight. He said he'd never seen a hive so big in such a long time and it was the right thing to do to get rid. Now I feel bad though 

[Joyce]

Safety first though Ali. Can't have child or dog getting stung. Don't feel bad.

[CLKD]

Of course he would say 'best to get rid of it' that's his job  ……… pity he didn't suggest a bee keeper first!

[Annika]

Wish i could be so accepting of insects but we have some frightful ones down here in Florida and they are BIG.  Ants here for instance are like something out of a horror flick..my daughter when little was out wearing those little jelly sandals when she stepped on some..within seconds they were all over her legs biting requiring a trip to the emergency room. We do have bees that produce nice locally grown orange blossom honey but we also have yellow jackets that can kill so caution is the word living in the tropics. 

[CLKD]

   ... what's with the killing of ants?  We've had a heap slowly growing in our front garden for 0ver 20 years and they don't make sink holes, however, moles ........ can destroy fields if their tunnels and heaps suddenly let go.  Wood ants, the long orange ones bite: HARD!  I like poking the heaps   

[oldsheep]

Having watched ants strip my only big fat ripe strawberry in under an hour, I'm abandoning gentle eco methods of deterring them and am sending for the napalm.

[CLKD]

I expect your paving was laid onto sand?  Hence the ant movement, clever little insects.  Gosh singing that 'dam' song again  (not that you are old enough to remember it ....... )

I measured our nest at the front today: 3ft x 3ft x ........ gave it a poke, lots of orange ants came out  ........    I wonder how many years before it over-takes the whole of that border 

Why didn't you eat your big fat ripe strawberry Oldsheep? ..........

Annika .......... what other nasties do you have in your plot?

[Taz2]

Just catching up with this thread.

The wood ant nests are amazing. If you stay and watch you will usually find a "motorway" to one of the trees. The ants will be going up one side and coming down the other collecting whatever it is they collect. I have a fascination with them and the way they work together. I even belong to an Ant Forum 

Oldsheep - do you know what type of ants you have. It is unusual for british ants to eat strawberries unless the fruit itself is infested with aphids. As they pick the aphids off the strawberries come away too. It is often common for slugs to start the holes and then the ants pop inside to lick off the sugary substance.

Taz x