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| A dusting of snow last Friday |
It's not at all unusual to have a day or two of snow on the Scottish mountains in October. A change in air flow and a drop of a few degrees is all it takes to get a few cm's of snow up high. It's usually short lived though, with our changing weather patterns in Autumn. This week as seen varied and changing weather with no settled or frosty conditions in the glen. Here's a round up of last week in the hills.
WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER
I was attending an interesting and thought provoking workshop today :
Scottish Mountain Rescue - Ethics of Fundraising Workshop. Some great stuff and ideas of how we can promote funding for Scottish Mountain Rescue. Great to meet various folk involved in MRTs and Professors of Philosophy at Stirling University.
SMRT's are all volunteers and rely on donations.
THURSDAY 13 OCTOBER
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| Afternoon sunshine |
A rare day this Autumn. Some beautiful sunshine in Strathspey.
I've found a lovely new Mountain Hare friend but he's a shy one. See if you can spot him in today's photographs.
It's getting colder. First outing out this season with the big wildlife coat on.
Forecast on the high tops is hovering around freezing point next few days and a sprinkling of snow.
Winter is not far away. But for now I'm enjoying the colours of Autumn starting to come through.
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| Golden |
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| Light and colour |
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| Colder up there |
FRIDAY 14 OCTOBER
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| Clear morning on the Cairngorm plateau |
A huge contrast today. A glorious morning of clear skies and bright sunshine. By 1pm the cloud rolled in and a couple of hours of snow started falling down to about 1100m.
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| Clouding over |
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| Snow lying in just 1 hour |
This, of course, is not at all unusual in October. Autumn can quickly turn into wintry conditions up on the hill.
The last couple of weeks I've been carrying winter kit, apart from axe and ccrampons.
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| Winter bag |
Don't be fooled by sun and folk wandering around Aviemore in shorts.
Winter is coming.
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| Clearing on the way down |
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| Back to sun! |
SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER
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| Afternoon sunshine and rainbows |
After a very wet morning and cooler temperatures we headed out after midday. There was some glorious sunshine and a terrific rainbow. Perfect timing and positioning to capture this with a foreground of beautiful golden birch.
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| Fresh snow on the high tops |
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| Rainbow over the Monadhliath |
We made our way down by some pathless terrain. Lots of stags roaring and this big group of red deer, stags, hinds and young.
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| Beautiful |
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| On the spy for deer |
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| No big lens today, but a half decent image with the 16-80mm |
SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER
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| My new friend, enjoying the views |
Another wet and cloudy morning turned into a glorious afternoon. Some fine clarity of light and bright sunshine. My new friend I spotted a few weeks ago was quite relaxed today foursome photography.
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| Nice sunshine for a snooze in the heather |
There had been some more light snow falling on the high Cairngorms over the last couple of days. I'd imagine it was pretty cold up there with a strong wind yesterday and today.
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| Braeriach with a dusting of snow |
A lovely afternoon decent in sunshine. Once lower down and into calmer winds I wandered around to see if I could spot a stag or two. They were roaring away. Finally managed to capture a family group.
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| Wonderful, iconic images |
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| Hinds and young |
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| A lone stag |
It was another beautiful end to the day. Saw no one apart from 3 bikers in the morning.
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| Beautiful late afternoon |
MONDAY 17 OCTOBER
Lovely to see Redwings back. First time this season. I didn't see any in Strathspey last year. These beautiful migrants just love the Rowan berries.
