Rare ant nest stolen from last place in England where species survives

Devon nature reserve says ‘reckless’ theft of narrow-headed ant colony sets back years of conservation work

A nest containing up to 5,000 of England’s rarest ant species has been stolen from a nature reserve, a conservation charity has said.

Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) said a nest of narrow-headed ants had been dug up and taken from Chudleigh Knighton Heath nature reserve in south Devon, which is the last place in England where the species still exists.

A single nest can hold a colony of between 1,000 and 5,000 ants, along with one or more breeding queens, which can live for up to 25 years.

DWT said the theft was discovered by conservation researchers carrying out regular checks in mid-October, who found a hole where a known nest had been and “clear signs of digging with a spade”.

Narrow-headed ants, which are named after the distinctive “pinched” look of their heads, were once widespread across southern England in heathlands. However, their numbers have shrunk over the last 100 years due to habitat loss caused by agricultural change and building developments. Now they are classified as a section 41 species, nationally rare, and near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of species.

Stephen Hussey, from DWT, said that whoever had stolen the nest knew what they were looking for and would have needed “prior knowledge” of ant colonies to be able to locate the nest. “We keep a close eye on them, so we know exactly where the nests are, but it’s not obvious to someone who doesn’t know about ants,” he said.

He said that while it was difficult to speculate on the motives for such a theft, it could have been an attempt to “rewild” nature by placing the ants back in their former habitats.

“It’s still a reckless act because you need a degree of expertise to move ants and prepare new homes for them,” he said. “We have ambitions to move some of the nests to new sites, but that will take a great deal of conservation effort, so relocating one nest to a new site isn’t likely to be very successful.”

Another possibility was that the ants had been taken by an insect collector, he added.

Julia Balfour, the species recovery officer for narrow-headed ants at DWT, said that the removal was a “significant loss” for the species. “Narrow-headed ant colonies develop slowly, and each mature nest, with its long-lived queens, represents many years of growth that cannot quickly be replaced,” she said. “This is a crime every bit as serious as illegal raids on wild bird eggs. It shows the pressures that our nature and wild places are under.

“This is the last population of narrow-headed ants in England, and losing even one colony sets back years of careful work by our staff, volunteers and partners.”

The theft has been reported to Devon and Cornwall police. It is against the law to deliberately disturb or remove material from a nature reserve. DWT said that it was reviewing the security of its nature reserve and would be continuing regular ant checks.

PC Lucy Wyatt, part of the rural affairs team at Devon and Cornwall police, said: “Sites of special scientific interest are legally protected and it is a criminal offence for any person to intentionally or recklessly damage, destroy, or disturb the protected area.”

Police are asking the public to report any information about the theft via the Devon and Cornwall police website.