There are three types of common ant in the UK. They are the black ant, the red ant - that you will have noticed more as it stings, and the yellow ant that creates anthills like this seen in the picture. Some like this in quiet fenced off hedgerows can be over a century old, where there is no hedge or trees and open to the sun so as to regulate the nest temperature.
The yellow ant spends most of its life below ground as the structure of intricate tunnels extend over a meter below the surface - the ants farm aphids that produce honeydew from plant roots that the ant lives on.
The green woodpecker is partial to the yellow ant and the quiet tapping of trees with a yaffle laugh locally - shows how pastoral land farmed with environmental empathy creates a peace and tranquillity missing from land under the plough that is a silent green desert.
When small farms are pushed out by economics, habitat created by generations of farmers is replaced by scientific farming that becomes a factory floor to consumer capitalism with built in obsolescence!