Canberra came out of lockdown at a time when other states were now entering lockdown, and even with winter starting to bite I decided to escape down to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands which feed into Lake Burley Griffin. The bird hides surrounding the wetland offered welcome respite while working from home. I set myself up in the hide with a hot cup of coffee and watched the post-drought wetlands spring back to life while simultaneously learning how to take Zoom calls.

Given the winter chill I hardly encountered others -even less so on days when it rained and when the tin roof of my bird hide made the mute button on those aforementioned Zoom calls mandatory (sometimes moreso even than when the birds were making noise). And yet it was the perfect place to find serenity in watching wildlife and the slowly rising water levels of the wetland.

Artfully emerging from the water at an angle, over a three month period of up to three visits each week, I took a series of photos of the same log. On each occasion, a constant theme emerged: ducks would gather on the long, and along would come coots who seemingly went out of their way to boot the ducks off the log.

Nasty little flockers, those coots.

Tom grew up on a farm in far western NSW and knew at a young age his shooting was best done with a camera. With a journalism, media adviser, CEO and now  with his new job working on a plan to release the carp herpes virus into Australia's waterways, photography is part of Tom's everyday work. Outside Australia's capital cities is where Tom does most of his shooting and wandering around regional and rural Australia is home to his 'happy place'. Tom usually has a camera on him and can be followed via Twitter @tomchesson01