Suddenly summer and thoughts on ants

Having spent much of my free time picking a bumper crop of fruit this year (as evidenced on my Instagram page - sueatkinsonphoto) has left me little time to post! The hot dry spell has also meant enough watering - especially the French beans in the greenhouse. It seems 6 plants in a gro-bag are a bit too many and those in pots are doing better. But then I was expecting them to be a dwarf variety which didn't need staking and hence wouldn't be so overcrowded. The climbing variety are doing better - lovely purple beans. Neither have done well in the garden - I'm blaming slugs and snails.
The garden has flourished this year and without too much attention. There have been plenty of birds - particularly great tits, blue tits, dunnocks, robins, blackbirds and I'm delighted by the number of sparrows. The swifts are still here in good numbers, I have managed to count about 14 at once but it's quite a challenge as they move so fast. There are also rooks, rather more red kites than I would really like to see and I spotted a flock of starlings along the street the other day but I've not seen them in the garden.
My Sarah Raven Lilium regale were spectacular but are now over as are the bulk of roses, geraniums and clematis although my very late spring cutting back of one of them was definitely a good move as it is still flowering, much later than usual. Two well-established phlox are doing really well. I am now eagerly awaiting the dahlias starting to bloom although they seem to be very slow so far....
On the radio they have talking about ants, claiming they do no damage. Hm. I'm not so sure. They have definitely been responsible for killing off several things here by excavating around plant roots. A splendid self-set white lychnis (left of top picture) upped and died suddenly last week and when I removed it there was virtually no root. Maybe or maybe not ants.... They are certainly farming black fly on the dahlias and that is not welcome.
One surprise observation I must note. The white perennial sweet pea (below) has been turning increasingly pink over the years and I assumed it was reverting. This year it is perfectly white again. Delight!