While wandering around the Blue Mountains yesterday, I came across a patch of ground that had lots of little holes in it. Ants, I thought. To my surprise, a flying insect zoomed down to the ground near me, descended into one of the holes, then came out again backwards and ejected a stream of sand, before going back down the hole. This happened a number of times, so I took a video:

A number of other insects arrived too, and dived into the surrounding holes. I think they’re wasps. Evidently Australia has around 10,000 wasp species, so it’s a little hard to identify this particular one. If anyone knows, I’d love to hear more about this insect.

Date spotted: 1 December 2019 (summer)

Location: The track up to Anvil Rock Lookout, Blue Mountains: 33°35’43.8″S 150°20’17.8″E