‘Molehill’

Spotted a line of freshly dug molehills on the grass next to the prom and near the finish at parkrun this morning, and went back to have a closer look!

Don’t know why, but I don’t see molehills all that often, and I’ve been a bit puzzled about them since childhood.  Of course, having never actually seen molehills being dug, I never quite figured out how moles - and similar creatures - actually did it!

So today, a bit of research seemed in order. Once they start their burrow, they are basically using a swimming motion to dig into the earth and then - with great strength - push it back out of the hole to create the molehill. So the hole they first made gets covered up!

I even found a couple of short videos here showing
How they do it  (and here)