Wildlife braces for winter as the frost begins to bite

The Fannichs, Highlands The sky is flung wide open, a bright bluebird of a day, as sunlight glitters on the drifts

High on the hills above Glen Quoich, winter has arrived. The first snowfall of the year begins to stipple the ground at 400 metres above sea level and lies knee-deep in the lee of the peaks. Overnight the air was thick with freezing fog, but now the sky is flung wide open, a bright bluebird of a day, as sunlight glitters on the drifts and the rime frost that has grown in shards from the rough grasses.

From the summit of Sgi^1rr Mi^2r, we follow a ridge that curves away from the nape of its neck, towards the neighbouring peak.