The Scottish Highlands are magnificent at this time of year, swathed in their rich autumnal colours. We have just returned from a week’s photography holiday there and were amazed by how beautiful it is.

There was a bit of time to fill as we approached Aviemore, our home for the week. So we called in at Ruthven Barracks which were built to accommodate Redcoats, tasked with maintaining law and order in the Highlands after the failed Jacobite uprising of 1715:

On the afternoon of the third day, we met our Naturetrek guide and four fellow group members at our hotel on Loch Alvie and the busy week of photography got underway:

We were generally quite lucky with the weather because it hardly rained all week, although it was often overcast and windy. However, when the sun did come out, the place looked completely amazing:

I was helped by Oliver, our guide, both with the composition and the subsequent tweaking of this next photo and I have to say that I’m especially pleased with it:

We spent one morning in a red squirrel hide, set amongst the heather and beautiful Scots pines of the Caledonian forest:

Nuts and seeds are regularly put out around the hide to keep the squirrels coming by to have their pictures taken:

The squirrels themselves are adorable even though they don’t have their tufty ears at this time of year:

There were some picturesque logs around for them to pose on:

We tried to get decent shots of them jumping:

There were probably four squirrels visiting:

We enjoyed our time in the red squirrel hide so much that we would like to try some more hides now. One of our fellow group members recommended a kingfisher hide in Lincolnshire – also a long way away from East Kent but perhaps we can build a visit to it into a nice weekend away.

Dave spotted a squirrel having a rest a bit further away and took a photo through his birding scope and onto his phone:

We saw some birds as well whilst we were in the hide and I particularly like this photo of a wren. I’m often surprised at how long their beaks are:

On another morning we went to an area of the forest where there are feeders up to bring crested tits in. Beautiful lichen-covered perches were also available to place near the feeders to encourage the birds to perch:

This was a not totally successful attempt at a back-lit shot:

The ground was very boggy and wet but still with a soft pink covering of heather:

I think this is my favourite crested tit photo of the morning:

One day we had an early supper at the hotel and then got ourselves back into the minibus to visit another hide to watch wildlife after dark. Once we had arrived and settled in, peanuts and spreads of peanut butter were put out to bring the animals in close to the hide:

Almost immediately a pine marten arrived. This was one of this years cubs:

There are apparently eight badgers in a sett nearby and six of them turned up on the evening:

It turns out that badgers love peanut butter:

This gave me an opportunity to photograph their amazing claws:

And their very mobile noses:

A wood mouse also ventured out to see if the badgers had left it any peanuts:

At the end of the session, we got back into the minibus and had just set off when we saw a dead pine marten in the road:

Another iconic Highland species is the mountain hare and we spent a day in search of them, high in the Findhorn Valley:

This was a very remote area. The farm buildings that can just be seen above were in ruins

Mountain hares are bigger than rabbits but smaller than brown hares and with shorter ears. They also turn white in the winter, unlike their brown hare cousins.

After much searching amongst the heather, we managed to find two hares, both of which were still brown at this time of year:

Our guide had just got a new thermal imaging camera that talks to his phone, and this showed the hare up really clearly – but only once we’d already found it:

Another species we couldn’t go home without seeing was the red grouse. This female looked like she had white spectacles on:

And the male had only a hint of red on his eyelid at this time of year:

A photographic challenge we were set was to blur the water cascading down under the bridge at Carrbridge. I did manage to achieve this with a really slow shutter speed and large aperture. A polarising filter would also have helped but I’d left that back in the minibus:

We spent two windy days by the sea – one going round the Black Isle and the other along the Moray Coast.

Not only did the harbour at Burghead have a large fleet of fishing vessels in port, it also had a small group of eider ducks. Our guide nearly always got down as low as possible to take his photographs:

Although I remained standing to take this male eider:

There was also an inquisitive grey seal in the water:

I think the photo of this curlew at Cromarty is much improved by giving it the context of the just-harvested field:

There were lots of birds to watch at RSPB Udale Bay on the Black Isle. Unfortunately they were all just a bit too far away for my camera:

The views from the reserve stretched out to the oil rigs languishing in the Cromarty Firth:

A flight of mute swans low over the mudflats:

By the end of the photography week I was feeling pretty tired – we were usually leaving the hotel by 8am each morning and didn’t return until after dark. So we enjoyed taking life at a much slower pace when we stayed two nights in a seriously comfortable hotel near Peebles in the Borders on the way home:

But eventually we had to turn the car southwards and make the long journey back down through England. We had had a fantastic time but, as always, it was lovely to be home again and reunited with the dog. We both feel that we learnt a lot about photography over the course of the week, but now need to keep pushing on with putting it all into practice so that we don’t forget.