Beinn a'Bhuird corrie

VIEW LARGER

Simon and Bill are standing in front of the awesome corrie walls of the east side of Beinn a'Bhuird, close to the edge of the frozen water of Dubh Lochan. There was still a huge amount of snow lying at this altitude, and we wondered if some of this might persist right through to the Autumn. The top of the corrie had huge, overhanging cornices, as we were to see at close hand the following day when Simon and I walked up the South Top of this, the 11th tallest mountain in Britain.

I was in two minds whether to blip this photograph which conveys something of the grandeur of this scenery, or this photo of a mountain hare that I was particularly pleased with. The hare was a just a tiny speck in this massive landscape, and had been sheltering in a snow hole under a lichen covered granite boulder. This was as close as I have ever managed to get to one of these delightful animals. It is a distinct species to the brown hare of the lowlands, with shorter ears and a white coat in Winter. This one was in transition to its summer coat, rather more conspicuous than in the winter proper.

The last dream I had in the morning as I lay in my tent in the pinewoods, was of watching a redstart singing. As I woke up, the redstart was actually singing in the trees above my head. Extraordinary that an external sound can enter one's dreaming brain, and even more so that the sleeping mind can identify it for what it is.