Tucked away in our native Caledonian pinewoods, you will find these large, dome-shaped mounds covered in pine needles. In winter they can be less conspicuous, but in summer they take on a life of their own!

These structures are the nests of our native wood ants, Formica aquilonia and Formica lugubris. Meticulously constructed from twigs, needles, and leaf litter, the nests can reach an impressive 1.5 metres in width and up to 2 metres in height, with some being decades old.

They are even more impressive beneath the surface, as an extensive network of underground chambers can house colonies of up to 100,000 wood ant workers and multiple queens.

These extraordinary little creatures play a big role in the forest ecosystem.  They help control leaf-eating invertebrates, recycle nutrients into the soil and disperse seeds through the woodland. They also provide an important food source for other species, while birds make use of them to help remove parasites.

Despite their importance, wood ants are listed on the IUCN Red List as a species of conservation concern due to historic habitat loss and fragmentation.  Protecting and managing native pinewoods properly is therefore key to supporting wood ant populations in Scotland.