Sun and snow on birch tree

Snow Trees

Birch – the tree of light. In the twilight there is a magical presence here, at any time of the year, but it seems amplified with snow underfoot reflecting the pink sky.

Braeriach

Wintry Braeriach

Braeriach in perfect late winter conditions Conditions on the mountains were quite stunning this week, with deep frost and the most perfect blue skies.  I love this time of year when the days are becoming longer, spring is under way down in the valley, and the mountains are at their best for snow cover.  The […]

Distant Shine

Sun glinting on the distant plateau of the Gaick hills. Winter has still hardly arrived with only a few mildly frosty days. This weekend however saw some snow on the hills, and an icy start with blue skies.  The sun was blinding on the distant snowy mountain-tops, although obscured by the intervening thick haze, giving […]

Autumn hils and early snow, Cairngorms, Scotland

Autumn Hills

Autumn colours and early snow, Cairngorms, from Torr Alvie An image from this week last year, on a day of sunshine and frost with the larch glowing bright orange across Rothiemurchus, and early winter snow on the Cairngorms behind.  The photo is taken from the mysterious wee hill of Torr Alvie, which is covered in […]

Glenfeshie hills, cairngorms national park, autumn-winter

Autumn turns to Winter

Late Autumn colour and first Winter snow, Glenfeshie Hills, Cairngorms A late November day in Strathspey, the near-sunset casting a warm glow across the landscape in contrast to the crisp air.  There is something I really like in the shape and flow of the forested middle-distance hills against the steep-sided hillside behind. It is always […]

Loch Morlich and wintry Cairngorm Mountains, November

Moon, Loch, Duck

Loch Morlich and Cairngorm Mountains at dusk, Cairngorms National Park After a beautiful day of sun and frost enjoying the late autumn colours, I stopped off at Loch Morlich to enjoy the afterglow reflections on the calm water (calm in contrast to the biting wind up on the mountains!)  I love the colours of the […]

Alder Branch and snow

Alder branch against snow, banks of the river Spey, Dalfaber, Aviemore A simple silhouette, but I love the blue colour of the snow shadows, taken on a wee wander along the riverbank.  As we move into mid-February the increase in light is becoming quite noticeable, and very welcome! Thanks to one of my correspondents for […]

Wingtips and blue sky

Wing-marks in snow, Monadhliath Mountains An unusual image this week – for several reasons.  We don’t often see things like this in the Scottish mountains, as it is so rarely settled enough from one day to the next.  Normally there is constant snow blowing, obscuring your own tracks within minutes.  On this day there had […]

Stormclouds

Winter Storm clouds over Geal-Charn-Mor, the Monadhliath Mountains Taken a few years ago on a ski trip across the Monadhliath.  We started out with blue skies and perfect conditions, but the weather was rapidly coming in and by the time we were up in the hills it was getting quite dramatic.  You can see the […]