These ants have turned up at a few different places around the garden, they seem to occupy a nest for a few months and then move on. They are semi-aggressive and will swarm on you if you stand on their nest or get in their path. They don’t seem to bite though.

The photos are from the 3rd location I’ve seen them, and the first time I’ve seen them swarm in such a dense cluster. There was a lot of movement going on but it seemed ordered, like they were going about a task, some of the ants were carrying white sacks around. I dropped a matchstick next to them to give a bit of scale in the photos and all hell broke loose. The ants swarmed so aggressively that it made a sound, like a soft crunching. The matchstick was swamped. With all the new movement I got a better look deeper into the mound and could see many more white sacks underneath.

[update Nov-2015] Finally worked out that these are Gum Tree Shield Bugs

These bugs were on a tree in the wildflower gardens. I’ve been trying to work out what they are. What bug is that looks comprehensive and has a good bug identification tool but I’ve been unsuccessful so far.

They’re quite distinctive looking, part of my problem is describing it in a way that someone who knows this bug would write about it. I found out entomology is very specialized and has a whole language of it’s own!