![\"whooper\"](\"\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/whooper.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA ballet is one of the collective nouns used for a group of swans, well-suited to this group of Whoopers alighting from the River Spey near Grantown<\/a>.<\/p>\n With a white-out on the summits, there’s still sometimes the chance of a stunning winter walk on the lower slopes and foothills.<\/p>\n Winter also gives the chance to try out other ways of getting around – such as snow-shoes shown here on Craig Ranich near Ullapool<\/a>. Remember that ice-axes and crampons are still essential equipment for the winter mountains though.<\/p>\n Snow is less common out on the Hebrides; Staffin Bay is shown here on the Isle of Skye<\/a> in truly baltic conditions.<\/p>\n The short days of winter are blessed with low light, which can be perfect for photography.<\/p>\n The footpath along the Bridge of Don on the edge of Aberdeen<\/a>, on a snowy morning.<\/p>\n Landscapes often take on an almost monochrome quality – a contrast to the cities with the bright Christmas lights and markets; here’s our ancient capital, Edinburgh<\/a>, photographed last week.<\/p>\n Glasgow Green<\/a>, photographed on a day with a very heavy frost.<\/p>\n The ptarmigan changes his plumage from mottled brown to white on the winter hills – seen here part way through his transformation.<\/p>\n There can be few better experiences than taking a walk as the sun sparkles on the snow.<\/p>\n Heavy snow in Rothiemurchus Forest<\/a>; when the wind does drop, snow muffles sounds and can bring a complete silence.<\/p>\n On some winters, the snows can even reach the coast; skiers had been out on this day at Forvie Sands<\/a> in Aberdeenshire. <\/p>\n A roe deer runs across the frozen lake at Drummuir Estate<\/a> in Moray<\/a>.<\/p>\n We couldn’t resist including this fluffed-up red squirrel once more; these are still busy in the woods burying food and building up their stores for the winter months.<\/p>\n Up on the summits, huge cornices build on the rim of the coire adjacent to the summit of Braeriach<\/a>.<\/p>\n We’d like to wish a Merry Christmas to all Walkhighlands’ users. Don’t forget we’re here to help you plan all your Scottish holidays and trips to enjoy some fantastic walking in 2015!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Need to get into that festive frame of mind? We’ve put together a gallery of wintry scenes from across Scotland to inspire you to venture out and explore before settling down by the fireside on these long evenings. A ballet is one of the collective nouns used for a group of swans, well-suited to this group of Whoopers alighting from the River Spey near Grantown. With a white-out on the summits, there’s still sometimes the chance of a stunning winter walk on the lower slopes and foothills. Winter also gives the chance to try out other ways of getting around…<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,8,18,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-magazine","category-our-picks","category-walk-highlands-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12102"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12650,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102\/revisions\/12650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n