Red Deer in the Evening

After a wearing day in Fort William there's a surge of pleasure as one comes over the brow of the hill, sees the peaceful scene of Camas nan Geall, and knows that one is nearly home.

We were in a hurry to finish our journey, unpack the shopping, light the fire and pour ourselves a drink, but when we saw a small group of deer moving down the hill towards the road, a young stag and three hinds, we stopped. They stopped. We looked at each other. We turned off the engine - in the middle of the road and it was single-track but it didn't matter as no other cars were around. Two rather older stags appeared over the brow of the hill and ambled closer.

They too stopped, inspected us, and began to browse. We had the windows down and a light rain was falling but the scene was so quiet, so unhurried, so peaceful that the rain didn't matter either.

A group of youngsters appeared. They stopped. They looked worried. By this time the older ones had wandered to our right - which is what the younger ones are looking at.

Finally the group, by now over a dozen animals, decided that we were not a threat after all and did what they'd been wanting to do all along - cross the road.

Watching these animals, we could almost feel the weariness of the day slip off our shoulders. Better still, we noticed that it was well after four and taking these pictures hadn't been a problem. The days are drawing out.