After the dry winter months the creeks are full from a week of early spring rain. Sitting by the bank of this creek everything is quiet. At midday the local birds and frogs shelter from the sun.

However, beneath the surface of the creek a community of water beetles communicate in its own alien way. The beetles are perhaps as oblivious to the terrestrial environment as we are to them.

Hydrophonic recordings always seem to highlight the importance of the sonic environment. Listening to the unfamiliar sounds of communication in an ecosystem which is so foreign to us helps draw attention away from our sense of vision and more towards our auditory senses. The difficulty in anthropomorphising the sounds belonging to this aquatic ecosystem sharpens our listening skills – we do not rely on our assumptions of the familiar. It is refreshing to still find something so intriguing in our own backyards.