Winter Sun

With the leaves stripped from the deciduous trees the low sun of a winter morning probes between the trunks to light up areas which, at any other season of year, are in permanent shadow. It's a lovely time to be walking, not least because, despite being so low in the sky, the sun still has a welcome warmth to it.

Such low-angled light also picks out denizens of the forest which probably don't want to be seen, like....

....this roe buck doe which had her young at heel and did her best to steal away without being noticed.

I was in the forestry early this morning so the deer were still around before the other walkers' dogs arrived to disturb them so I saw no less than four - on most walks we're lucky to see one.

Having walked through the forestry I came down to a sea in near flat calm, its surface broken only by a large seal, a couple of goldeneye, and three mallard foraging along the seaweed-line - and it was so warm I was able to sit on our favourite bench for twenty minutes and look out over the sea to where, far out, two fishing boats were working the Moray Firth.