February 2026

Sliding around on your stomach, on a patch of frozen snow, high on the hills might not be everyone's cup of tea, but thankfully it is for my friend and me, and it's what we were doing late afternoon, after following a pair of ptarmigan for some time.

It was the best way to get close, and to retain a low angle to photograph them from, and to get a nice blurred foreground in front of the subject. In this case, a female ptarmigan.

It is always a treat to even see a ptarmigan, let along get within a few metres of one, to photograph one. And all the more special in the company of a friend, who until the week before, had never even seen one before.