HAVING DRAWN into the first layby south of Slochd summit, I took a rucksack, camera and other photographic gear and ascended the hill to the east, intent on my first picture of a mountain hare. The going was steep, the ground rough underfoot and my load heavy; but that was not new.
My life had been altered at, of all things, a dinner party when one of our guests suggested that, to be 'world class' at anything, it is necessary to specialise. I decided that my focus for five years would be five species: dotterel, red grouse, crested tit, ptarmigan and mountain hare, the only mammal. Of these I had so far photographed all four birds, but no hares.
At that time, indeed until recently, they had not been photographed…