Glen Feshie has been famed for it's beauty since the Victorian period when high society developed a craze for buying land in Scotland for hunting deer. For a long period the glen suffered extrensive damage as deer numbers rose out of control and grazed the area close to the point of devastation. What was left of the forest was dying on its feet as saplings got munched and old trees dies.
Happily, the glen has turned it around and under new ownership has become a model of 'rewilding' - restoring the land to a natural condition. For the moment, its beauty is in safe hands.
To access the higher reaches of the glen means either a long walk or a fairly long bike ride, but the rewards on reaching it are ample. In late August the heather (for which Scoltand is famed) comes into bloom and pink flowers blossom across the hills.
On this occasion I was enjoying the day when the heavens opened and one of those famous Scottish rain showers started. The ground was absolutely pounded by hail and rain, and I was quickly soaked. I actually quite like being out in those conditions and love photographing them, though it's a challenge to keep photography gear dry. Before long dry water channels were filling up, and I followed one toward this pine that was ideally placed. After a few more minutes the shower started to pass, and as I hoped light flooded into the scene from the side. Behind me was an impressive rainbow, but it was in just the wrong place and this was the superior shot.
The rain was still driving into the lens so it was a case of shoot and wipe, shoot and wipe, hope for the best. Happily I managed to get a few good frames of which this was the best.