Aurora and the Rut

This isn't the most memorable of the many auroras I was fortunate enough to witness in our years on Ardnamurchan, most of the event consisting of ghostly sheets of green light weaving low across the seas and islands to the north of the peninsula - until, quite suddenly, these great pillars of red started to appear over Meall Sanna. They were spectacular, yes, but they were made very special when, as if they had triggered a response, a red deer stag started to roar.

It was the rutting season and I well remember the hot, angry sound of the beast, frighteningly close behind me, in stark contrast to the icily silent spectacle playing across the skies in front.