Dave Pullan - Photos of the Month

24th February: Wheres the snow gone? Two weeks ago 2 feet of snow covered the ground and night-time temperatures dropped to minus 18 degrees C. This morning the temperature was plus 8 degrees C and patches of snow were few and far between. Not that this white Mountain Hare, near Lochindorb, seemed particularly worried (apart from the occasional twitch of the nose).

27th January. Cairn Gorm. A pristine white male, one from a flock of 17.

28th October. Loch of Strathbeg.

26th September. Burghead, Moray.

Eiders are normally thought of as feeding on mussels but this one is eating a fish; a Bullhead. (Probably a Long-spined Bullhead also known as a Sea Scorpion, kindly identified by Andy Horton at www. glaucus.org.uk).

16th August. Brier Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

24th July. Chanonry Point, Black Isle.

14th June. Treshnish Isles.

21st March, Kanha National Park.

We were fortunate with this male Tiger because we had him more or less to ourselves for 45 minutes. As we followed him through this period he never once looked at us, quickened his pace or acknowledged our presence in any way. Instead he got on with what he wanted to do, i.e. spray trees to mark his territory and sit down in a waterhole to drink and cool off. At one stage it was amusing to see him cause panic amongst a group of Chital (Spotted Deer) that he got very close to without trying. He wasn't in a hunting mood however and went off to find some shade instead as the morning temperature continued to rise.

First-winter, Ullapool

21st December; First-winter. Ormsary, Argyll.

22nd Nov: Not quite in full, white, winter plumage yet. The feathered legs (to which the genus name Lagopus refers) and feet show well here.

One of several local Reds that now look quite grey as they take on a winter coat.

A stag in the rain. Photographed at the beginning of the month and before the rut really got going, this animal was more interested in feeding than females.

A decent-sized snack for one of the Moray Firth Dolphins. Notice the choppy rip-tide which seems to make migrating Salmon more vulnerable to ambush.

26th July: An unusually late chick takes a ride on the back of one of its parents. This adult is actually the male, with a longer and deeper bill than the female.

Part of a group of 7, this female was taking part in lots of display activity including wing-flagging, shown here, and perhaps getting ready for a second attempt at breeding after bad weather in May.

JUNE 2009: White-tailed Eagle