SNOW HARES

 

Shaking off the snowshowers

Tuesday 31st January. 

Day 2 on Deena & Knut's wildlife photography week. What an absolutely wonderful day. First look at todays weather forecast and you may have thought let's just bin it and stay in the forest. But no, our wonderful Scottish Mountain Hares are true heros and deliver many ddelights.

How wildlife photography is achieved 

Heavy snow showers and poor visibility interspersed with beautiful Scottish winter light. We perservered in the showers.

Glorious light inbetween showers

Pwhat a wonderful hare

With my expertise of guiding in winter conditions,  including micro navigation and years of research on mountain hare habitat & fieldcraft the couple from the USA were treated to some fabulous mountain hare moments. They came away ( hopefully) with some great images.

Wind, sun & snow

Difficult holding the cameras in these winds

They have 3 more days with me in the hills and our beautiful,  hardy and amazing hares.

Top day.

5 DAY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

 

Deena & Knut on the snow

Monday 30th January

Deena & Knut are out with Gary Hodgson Photography for 5 days of Mountain Hare photography. Ultra keen hare and wildlife photographers have come all the way from the USA to be on one of my wildlife holidays to capture our beautiful Scottish Mountain Hare. With a mixed weather this week there's no pressure then.

Photographing the hares

Nice day

Fresh snow

Today was a beautiful morning with fresh snow down to around 400m. We had some nice sightings of my wee friend  and beautiful sunshine before it clouded over later in the afternoon.

Someone's been here

Good sighting of my wee friend after 1 hour.

My wee friend 

Heavy snow tomorrow and some high winds. A challenge!

Not to be out done

WET & WINDY CAIRNGORMS

 

Sunday 29th January. 

Irene & Rachel out on day 2 of their winter course this weekend with Tarmachan Mountaineering. 

With a weather forecast of high winds on the tops we chose a more sheltered and lower altitude venue for more essential skills to be safe and competent on the Scottish mountains in winter.

 Today we focused on steeper terrain, avalanche awareness and some axe arresting. In the afternoon we battled through the winds which weren't that bad. The temperature had gone up since yesterday and it was a soggy day. Colder and snow returns tonight.

A top 2 days with two fun and enthusiastic folk.

A FROZEN CAIRNGORMS

 

Irene & Rachel enjoying first steps in crampons 

Saturday 28th January. 

Top day in the Cairngorms. Irene and Rachel out with Tarmachan Mountaineering on their 2 day winter course this weekend.

Frozen solid snow, also known as neve

We kicked off with some kicking steps and cutting steps on easy angled terrain.  After gaining confidence and technique we moved up higher into Coire an Lochain. 

Twin Burns, Coire an Lochain 

Great fun

Blue skies above Coire an Lochain 

A fabulous day. Light breeze, sunshine and brilliant snow conditions. Everything white is frozen solid. A top day to hone good crampon techniques.

 I hope your crampons are sharp and if you've got microspikes then good luck with them. In these conditions microspikes are potentially an hazard, they don't belong up steep, icy mountains.

The cliffs of Coire an Lochain 

Many cornices collapsed after the recent thaw

Cramponing down

Great to see winter conditions return after the thaw over the last few days.

Some great views, finishing at dusk.

MOUNTAIN HARE IN FRESH SNOW

 

Thursday 26th January

An amazing 3 hours & 40 minutes spent in close company with this wonderful Mountain Hare today. He sat, yawned, stretched and just looked adorable as cloud kept coming and going, sleet showers turned to snow showers and just a small hint of sunshine.

Happy in my company 

Precious moments, or indeed, hours.

These beautiful creatures have supreme adaptation to our mountain climate and environment. Speed, masters of camouflage and an ability to cope in extremes of Scottish mountain weather.

It's just one of numerous reasons I spend so much time in their company. It was so good to see fresh snow falling again today, albeit only a few showers. But a welcome sign of a return to winter with freezing levels downto about 700m today.  The cold set to continue over the next week with, hopefully,  some big dumps of snow.

WINTER WILL RETURN SHORTLY

 

The Cairngorms, last Friday

Unfortunately Jim, my client on day 2 of his winter skills, is not feeling too good today. So just going through some photos from last Friday.

It's amazing how just a couple of days of mild weather can have such a dramatic effect on the snow cover.

Don't worry, scenes like this WILL return soon.

A few mages from Friday 20th January on a stunning winter's day.

Rime encrusted sedges

Lairig Ghru & Ben Macdui 

Cairn Gorm

Sunset and Scots Pine

Red Grouse on snow

In flight

GOOD SNOW COVER, DESPITE A THAW

Crampons on, Ice hanging on

 Monday 23rd January. 

A lovely day in the Cairngorms. Only moderate winds so we could get up high and have a journey around the hills.

Coire an t-sneachda 

Clearing skies

Jim out on a 2 day skills course this week with Tarmachan Mountaineering. Jim has an excellent base of hillwalking on impressive mountains which we built on today. Going on a 1:1 course with Tarmachan Mountaineering you'll get a shed load of skills suited to aspirations, ability and fitness. We also work around your dates, not set dates.

We had a fantastic day. The weather was far better than earlier forecasts. The tops were clear, we even had some sun.

Only a breeze on the plateau 

Good snow cover on the Cairngorm plateau 

Coire Domhain & Ben Macdui 

Beinn Mheadhoin 

The milder temperatures are consolidating the snowpack. A good overnight freeze would be wonderful.

Coire an t-sneachda 

Fiacaill Coire Sneachda 

Tip top day and great banter.