The hopper is near 20 mm with brown wings, pronotum and head. The abdomen is yellow
Yes it looks like Persicaria lapathifolia, Pale smartweed.. loves floods and you've had a few in the last 12 months?
Nice first shot.. good depth of field.
The ants are making the nest among the foliage of trees. Workers draw leaves together and glue them together with larval silk.
Lagria hirta is a species of beetles in the family Tenebrionidae. This species is present in Europe, in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco), in Russia (Western and Eastern Siberia), in Israel, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Anisoplia agricola is a beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, they range from Austria, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, to European Russia and Kazakhstan.