Strange behaviour indeed.  This morning I checked on my colonies, and below is what I found.

The Myrmica Ruginodis

So, I came down stairs, mooched around for a while, checking the site, chatted with some other ant dudes, and then checked on my ant colonies. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my entire colony of M.ruginodis had moved out of the ant farm area, and into the basin area. Now this is a colony of now more than a hundred workers, and at least the same again of eggs and larvae.  The only change that I have made to the basin was the introduction of some loamy type soil and wood flooring on top of the sand that was there already, and a large feeding stone.  My thought is that they have all moved under the stone.  I will post some piccys of this later.

The Camponotus Ligniperda

These ants came last week and you can read the C.ligniperda profile by clicking on the link.  They are truly very large ants, and the size of the queen is probably twice that of the M.barbarus queen.  She arrived with her five workers, and small brood of eggs, probably 10 in all.  I believe they have gone straight into a hibernation state.  They are sat in the tube that links the farm to the basin, and there they have stayed, rarely moving, they have also blocked off the tube at both ends.

The Tetramorium Caespitum

These ants are cool, and could become my new favourites.  I can see why they cause such a problem in some areas.  They really do excavate a lot.  There were some tunnels showing on the front of the farm, and I hadnt looked at the back for a while, so I turned the farm around to find 2 massive tunnels and a 3rd being constructed...cool.  I gave them some honey for the first time, and within minutes I counted at least 20 workers drinking from it, and could still see numerous other workers working within the nest.  My initial fear that the 5 workers and queen wouldn't survive have been well and truly quashed.

The Messor Barbarus

They continue to do well.  They may well be neary hibernation state as well.  They rarely come into the basin area.  There are 20 workers now, not easy to count cos they move around so much lol.  I'm pleased that their numbers are increasing because it finally means that I have definately plugged the escape route that they kept using, its just a shame that I never found any of the escapees.

The Lasius Niger

I predict good growth from this colony.  There are now 3 workers and the queen, which is good because I was very worried about my garden caught queen in the beginning.