Here are some photographs of some characteristic and charismatic Vertebrates, Insects, Plants, Fungi and Landscapes from the Scottish Highlands. The images are all copyright and may be used only with written permission. Click on the thumbnails to see the full images (which are often a different shape).
Vertebrates
Red Squirrel
Capercaillie at Highland Wildlife Park
Hen Ptarmigan and chicks dust-bathing on Cairngorm. They are marvellously camouflaged
Red Deer may come down into the valleys to feed, mostly towards evening, on arable crops if available, keeping a wary eye out for people. Upper Speyside
Insects
A somewhat battered Scotch Argus at Feshiebridge
An Ichneumon fly at Feshiebridge
A handsome fly, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, a quite good wasp mimic, at Feshiebridge
Forest Shieldbug, Pentatoma rufipes, at Feshiebridge
Ringlet butterfly at Feshiebridge
Narrow-Bordered Bee Hawk Moth Caterpillar at Insh Marshes NNR
Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja at Feshiebridge
Tenthredo sawfly on Devilsbit Scabious at Feshiebridge
Large Syrphid hoverfly on Knapweed at Feshiebridge
Light Knotgrass Moth Acronicta menyanthidis scotica on Birch at Creag Meagaidh NNR
Nest of Red Wood Ants near Loch Garten
Plants
Glorious moor grasses at Craig Meagaidh
Yellow Rattle, a hemiparasite of grasses. It weakens the grass, letting other flowers into the greensward: the opposite action to modern fertilisers. Upper Speyside
Marsh Orchid
Round-leaved Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia, a small insectivorous plant of acid bog. Dun-da-Lamh, near Laggan
Grass of Parnassus, Parnassia palustris at Creag Meagaidh NNR
Rowan fruits. The tree is also called the ‘Mountain Ash’
The insectivorous Butterwort forms pale green stars in boggy places. Upper Speyside
