Formica aquilonia
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Formica aquilonia, also called the Scottish wood ant, is a species of wood ant of the genus Formica which are widely distributed in Europe and Asia, occurring from Scandinavia in the north to Bulgaria and Italy in the south, and from the UK eastwards through France and Germany to Russia, while they are also found in the coastal areas of the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Siberia. They live mainly in coniferous forests but they do also occur in some deciduous woodlands.
The Scottish wood ant has a reddish-brown head and thorax and a black abdomen. At the back of the head is a short fringe of hairs but this does not extend as far as the eyes. This ant has fewer, shorter hairs than are present in the other wood ant species found in Britain.
The Scottish wood ant has a wide distribution across northern Europe, its range extending from Scandinavia to Siberia. It also occurs in the cooler parts of mountainous regions of central Europe and Asia. In Scotland it occurs in the pinewoods of the Caledonian Forest and throughout the Highlands, including the Isle of Skye off the west coast. It is also known from two locations in County Armagh in Northern Ireland.... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Scottish Wood Ant sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 189th most-seen of the 300 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Scottish Wood Ant in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October and December–April, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scottish Wood Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cairngorms National Park, in our data
Cairngorms National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Scottish Wood Ant sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scottish Wood Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in Cairngorms National Park (12 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
