Wood Ants
Wood Ants in Bedford Purlieus
As far as we know Wood Ants only occur in one place in Rockingham Forest. There are many nests of the Southern Wood Ant (Formica Rufa) in Bedford Purlieus and here they are at the northern edge of their UK range.
Why this species appears to be thriving in Bedford Purlieus but nowhere else in the forest is not clearly understood, but in 2024 Barrie Galpin set out to research what was known about the history of the colony and wrote a blog article which is available here.
The article also discussed the possibility of moving some of the nests to other nearby fragments of Ancient Woodland, together with the necessary pre-requisites In order for any such translocation to go ahead.
A survey of the colony in 2025
The blog article sparked a lot of interest both from local people and from conservation organisations. Throughout 2025, Stuart and Sarah from Kings Cliffe joined Barrie in recording the grid references of all the nests that they could find in the wood. Ecologists from Forestry England gave advice and encouragement and were able to convert the grid references into maps showing the distribution of the nests. It became obvious that the colony extends through pretty much the same area, with a similar number of nests as was recorded in the last survey, 50 years ago - see the two similar maps below.
Wood Ant nests recorded in 1974 and in 2025.
(NB It is not known whether survey effort and method was the same during the two surveys)
We are not sure why some areas of the wood are particularly favoured and other shunned by the ants - preferences that have survived over 50 years. To the amateur eye the mosaic of vegetation appears very similar, but there may be differences in the underlying soils and that is something we intend to investigate. Of course, we would welcome all ideas and theories about this - do please get in touch.
An expert opinion
In June 2025 we were delighted to learn that Jay Nayner and Matt Shardlow had created a YouTube video about the Wood Ant colony in Bedford Purlieus. Many thanks to both of them.
Matt lives locally and is an internationally recognised entomologist and expert on invertebrates. He was also the founder and former CEO of Buglife. In this 20-minute video he shares his passion and knowledge of these fascinating creatures and considers the future of Wood Ants in Purlieus and beyond, in the wider British Isles.
Report of a Forestry Commission translocation
In August 2025 we heard that Hairy Wood Ants (a similar but different species to those in Bedford Purlieus) have been carefully moved from Cropton Forest in North Yorkshire to Ennerdale in Cumbria in an innovative translocation trial. Six ant nests – each containing many thousands of insects – were relocated as part of a wider effort to restore woodland wildlife and build climate resilience into the nation’s forests.
Hayley Dauben, Species Reintroduction Officer for Forestry England says:
"this is an experiment so we're not entirely sure what the outcome will be but we hope it will be a successful approach that we can replicate in other forests across the country"
Highlights from 2025
Early March 2025. The first warm days of spring and a colony of Wood Ants is busy repairing their mound - it looked as if a badger had been digging there over the winter.
This nest, found near the eastern edge of the wood in September, was unusual in that it had two distinct peaks.