It's early March and whilst I hear reports of frogs spawning in the south of England, snow still carpets the ground here in the Highlands. Its been a tough winter for wildlife and grazing species such as deer and hares have had it harder than most. With their food buried beneath up to 1m of snow since before Christmas many animals have died or been severely weakened. Traditionally a forest dwelling animal, most of Scotland's red deer live out on the hill year round where grazing is often of poor quality and wintry conditions are at their worst. On Alvie Estate in Strathspey many of resident stags congregate in the old Caledonian pine forest where they receive a daily hand out of high protein pellets and silage. This month as the weather improves they will begin to disperse and stags like this one which have been very approachable all winter long, allowing photographers like myself to come within 20m, will suddenly become flighty and wary of humans.