ALAN and the ants hope to be a hit at a popular tourist spot this summer.

Alan Ross, a metal sculptor from Ross-on-Wye, has been commissioned to design and create seven and a half giant ants for a project called Life Underground, at Longleat in Wiltshire.

He exhibited at the venue last year with Ross based arts organisation Lying Cheetah and was approached to create something for a new attraction for visitors to view while on Longleat’s railway.

He said: “We were thinking of creatures which live underground such as moles and badgers and came up with ants. “From a sculpture point of view it’s something which can be created piece by piece and easily taken apart.” Once the subject was chosen, Alan, aged 46, was asked to produce a group of leaf cutter ants being menaced by a larger bullet ant. So far, he has completed four of the steel ants which measure around 3.5m long and the bullet ant which measures around 5m. Each ant has taken around a week to construct and Alan hopes to have completed the project by the end of the month.

Alan has been working in metal sculpture for about nine years after studying a course in welding at Herefordshire College of Technology.

He said: “I work in a style best described as ‘direct metal sculpture’ which uses a variety of techniques, and is not bound by any tradition or history.” The metal is bent, twisted and welded to create the required shape and is usually left unpainted to allow it to oxidise, producing a thin layer of rust to create a natural colour.