As is fairly typical this month's image is late! Where do the weeks go? Anyway, this is the very latest of my images taken at 6pm on 20th September just short of the autumn equinox - a time of seasonal change, which I felt was summed up well in this moody scene overlooking Strathspey in the Cairngorms National Park. I had set off with a very different picture in mind to a new viewpoint that from the map looked like it should provide an expansive vista across the forest. The weather looked changeable with the promise of some dramatic light. Having found my way to the top of the pine clad hill, I literally couldn't see the wood for the trees with the view in all directions interrupted by foliage. A reminder of how most of Scotland once looked with dense forests extending all the way up to the natural tree line. The understorey was luxuriant with bilberry, heather, mosses and ferns, rotting logs covered in lichens and fungi with a classic mix of rowan, birch, aspen and pine overhead - fantastic. As splendid as this was the light back down the Strath grabbed my attention as fingers of light splintered through the brooding clouds. The trouble was I couldn't find a clear vantage point - I even climbed a tree at one point! But after much stomping I found a suitable 'window' and quickly fired off several overlapping frames, which have been stitched together to form this panoramic.

Canon EOS 1D MarkIV, Canon 70-200mm f4, f8 @ 1/1000th, ISO 100 handheld