Post-floral whateries?

It was "that" hot day in July when the Purple Vetch seeds "pop" from their seed cases. As I stood trying to get a glimpse of it in action I became aware of two or three ants hanging around at every leaf node along the stems of the plant. What were they doing?

A busy bee on a Vetch flower

Whatever it was, they were all on the same mission and all seemed to have a bit of a thing for a nice green leaf node.

Now, I could narrow the behaviour down to something to do with reproduction, survival/defence or food source, which you can do with pretty much any living thing, apart from humans who seem to be constantly distracted by many meaningful (or not so meaningful) tasks. So I was heading for the food source idea.

I know that ants like to drink sweet stuff - who hasn't found one in a glass of fizz or squash at some point? 

And I also know that plants produce sweet nectar, but surely that's just from the flowers...

Well, it seems not. After a bit of research I found out that it's all to do with "Extra (or "Post") Floral Nectaries" (EFN) - a phenomenon which has barely been researched, especially here in the UK. 

It turns out that some plants produce nectar from their leaf nodes & other areas as well as their flowers, but why? 

Well again, it's either reproduction, survival or food source & from the plants point of view this is all about survival/defence.

A Purple Vetch wants to successfully reproduce & to do this it has to protect it's seeds from danger until it's pods are ready to "pop", at which point it has accomplished it's task. 

Drunk & Disorderly Ants

The plant & the ant have evolved a symbiotic relationship. 

There are many plant pests who would happily munch on a Vetch seed, but much like ants defend aphids in return for a sweet treat, in this case the ant is defending the plant & it's seeds in return for some of the plant's nectar - isn't that incredible! 

So, why don't ants just help themselves to the nectar directly from the flowers? Apparently, they are physically prevented from taking floral nectar by the dense stamens - yet another clever trick!

Ants - the aphid's defender!

If you ever find aphids on your plants at home, before squirting them with something toxic, take another look. 

Where there are aphids there are usually Black Garden Ants.

Why? Well, they've learnt that teamwork can benefit them both.

Aphids are a great meal for a hungry Ladybird, but they've found an ingenious way of protecting themselves. They produce a sweet nectar from their bodies which ants just love to drink. 

The ants stroke (or "milk") the aphids which respond by producing blobs of "honeydew" for the ants to drink. In return, when a hungry Ladybird comes a-hunting, the ants see it off!

It's been proven that this sugary substance gives the ants an addictive high - they get "drunk" on it!

More amazing ant facts (not UK species, but definitely worth a mention):

Leafcutter Ants are the foragers & gardeners of the ant world. Leafcutter ants are capable of carrying over 50 times their own body weight. They carry leaves back to their nest and use them to make a fertiliser to grow their own special fungus-food in! They tend this fungus garden which is their only food source.

Fire Ants form living rafts to move the colony away from flooded areas. 

Fire Ants have developed the ability to team together to form a raft to survive the flooding of their habitat. The entire colony links arms and legs and floats above the water's surface - incredibly, even the ants on the bottom layer stay dry! 

Harvester Ants Vs Night Ants 

In the Arizona desert food is scarce & the only things ants can eat are seeds. Harvester Ants collect the seeds during the day, but have to be fast as the desert heats up quickly. 

By nightfall they are back in their nests having filled their underground larders with seeds. 

When they are safely tucked up for the night another species of ants wake up & start to forage - the Night Ants. But, seeds are scarce in the desert & more often than not there are few about by nightfall because the Harvester Ants have collected them all. 

The Night Ants though, have a cunning plan. They spend the night shifting stones & plants to block up the holes of the Harvester Ant's nest - by morning it's clear why - they've trapped the Harvester Ants in the nest! 

It takes the Harvester Ants most of the next day to clear away the rubble, which means they have less time for foraging, which in turn means that by nightfall there are still seeds on the ground for the Night Ants to collect! 

Fantastic!

A mysterious noise!

Wandering around the patio with my camera slung round my neck, waiting in anticipation of what might flit past me I was intrigued to find that it was actually my sense of hearing that was pulled to attention before anything else.

In front of me was a pile of sleepers, some Purple Vetch, a wooden planter and an old hollow tree trunk lent up against it for decorative effect & I was suddenly aware of a scratching sound - or was it popping - or nibbling - I wasn't sure, but it was pretty loud! There was something there, but where? 

It was either coming from the hollow log or the planter so I lifted the hollow log away & the sound came with it! Aha! It was in the log. 

I listened more closely & realised it was a nibbling sound - was it a beetle or shock horror - woodworm?! No there were no woodworm-sized holes. Phew! I looked all around the outside of the bark for tell-tale signs - nothing! I was going crazy - there was this incessant nibbling and nothing to see! What the hell was it?

Then, all of a sudden, a "poof" of sawdust shot out from the inside of the log - and there at the top of the inside of the hollowed out log was a hole no bigger than 1cm across. Something had kicked the sawdust out and was nibbling a tunnel through my log! What could it be? Well I got myself comfortable on a garden chair & positioned myself with the camera resting on the log ready to snap whatever it was as it emerged. 

20 minutes later... still nothing to see, another 10 minutes of nibbling and I could feel the back of my neck burning in the midday sun and the guilty pull of all the housework I should be getting on with inside. 

Then all of a sudden - pop - a furry bottom! A bee was backing out of the hole! I snapped & snapped, but only got this rather unflattering shot - it was so fast! Off it flew, probably to get itself some lunch.

After a bit of research I found out that this was a type of carpenter bee - you can see why.

I checked a couple of times later in the day & the nibbling was still going on. Two days later she was still nibbling! She was one busy little mum-to-be-bee!