Cairngorm National Park in the Scottish highlands is home to the iconic and charismatic mountain hare. When the days get shorter the mountain hares’ coats turn from their summer greyish brown to a stunning white. This enables them to blend in with their wintry surroundings in an effort to hide from predators such as golden eagles. It’s also thought that white fur, with its lack of melanin, is more insulating helping them maintain their body temperature in cold conditions.

Mountain hares have one of the hardest lives of all the UK mammals I’ve come across so far, withstanding the worst of the Scottish winter weather. They’re often braving temperatures well below freezing with gale force winds relentlessly battering them with snow, sleet and rain. In an effort to conserve as much energy as possible they will hunker down away from the harsh elements behind rocks and in holes they’ve dug in the snow.