Down under the armillary sun dial

We have in the garden an armillary sun dial that usually rests on a hollow stand. As the path was in need of a sweep, and the armillary needed a good clean it was decided to tackle both at once. The sun dial was lifted off its hollow stand and the stand was lifted off the pathway. This revealed a mound, rather like a small sandcastle but made of fine elements of soil. The mound was gradually excavated to reveal the start of an ants nest. There were only about six ants scurrying about and if you look at the bottom photograph just about three eggs.

Thankfully, the ants in the garden are mostly the black variety. They are probably the most common in our area - and are friendly in character. They also enjoy eating the hedgehog food or cat food especially any form of tinned fish. The ants also congregate over any fruit pieces that are placed out for the birds. In fact, with the various creatures food stuffs and the 'milk' they acquire from all of the greenfly, I should say that they perhaps have the most varied diet of any of the insect family. In the above picture you can just make out a few of the entrances to some of the ant tunnels and their approximate size when comparing them to a finger. More tunnel entrances are visible above. The tunnels and ant eggs are easy to observe in the photograph above. We found that the ants had brought all of the soil heap through a hair-line crack between two paving slabs. Now I wonder whether the ant home will reappear under the hollow stand.