Spring cleaning

From time to time I notice the ants' nest in the new daffodil bed, most recently at reference 1 and presently graced with the stand of common knapweed.

I don't think that I have mentioned before that BH has her own ants' nest underneath one of the steps leading up to her washing line. I suppose that ants like to nest under paths and steps as they offer good protection from predators, at least the over-ground sort.

This morning, this particular nest was on the move. Lots of ants to be seen, lot of earth excavated from the lower regions and lots of what I took to be ants' eggs, mainly bottom right in the snap. But why on earth were the ants chucking out all the eggs? Some kind of ongoing eco-disaster?

Closer inspection showed that what I had taken to be eggs were actually empty egg cases. All that seemed to be happening was that the worker ants were clearing all the rubbish out of the nest, perhaps in preparation for the next wave of eggs. A spot of spring cleaning.

Entirely fitting & proper that BH's nest should be going in for such a thing.

My nest continues quiet during the day. There is clearly plenty going on, with plenty of excavation, but never when I am around. Can they feel the vibrations in the hard summer ground as large biped approaches, possibly an ant eating biped? Which explanation would require them to be a different sort of ant than those noticed above. Or should I rush out with a torch when it is dark?

PS: Wednesday: there are now quite a lot of what appear to be large, winged, black ants in and around the back lawn, in the hot afternoon sun. Most of them appear to be struggling, perhaps expiring in the short grass. Is the season for chucking out the drones (named for the gentlemen's club favoured by Bertie Wooster and his chums)?

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/not-lots-of-ants.html.