The translocation of the red barbed ant from the Isles of Scilly to Chobham Common National Nature Reserve, Surrey, UK

Summary

The red barbed ant (Formica rufibarbis), possibly Britain's rarest resident animal with a sole mainland population reduced to two nests at Chobham Common, Surrey, was targeted for translocation from a stronger population on the Isles of Scilly by the Surrey Wildlife Trust and Zoological Society of London under a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. Mated queens were collected from St. Martins over successive summers and reared in quarantine at ZSL London Zoo, the first time this species had been bred in a zoo, developing new husbandry protocols from amateur precedents, before small colonies were stagger-released across several summers into early-successional habitat specially created at Chobham Common. Genetic analysis identified the closest related European populations for potential future work. However, competition proved far more severe than anticipated: the common black ant (Lasius niger), not the expected slave-maker ant, out-competed and suppressed the small released colonies, and after initial positive signs, no target-species activity was recorded at release sites for over two years, suggesting the releases had failed or the surviving nests had relocated outside the monitored areas. The project concludes that releasing larger, whole-nest translocations rather than small captive-reared colonies is likely necessary to let colonies repel aggressive competitors. Difficulties also included rearing sufficiently large colonies within a single season and securing long-term post-release monitoring funding once Heritage Lottery Fund support ended. The project rates itself a Failure.