Ever since seeing Sir Edwin Landseer’s oil painting the Monarch of the Glen in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, I often wondered whether I would ever be fortunate enough to witness such a moment.

Driving down a 22 mile long single track road towards Kinloch Hourn, it was my sole intention to photograph a derelict building, Crofter’s Cottage. A very photogenic location, the old cottage had an old bridge in front of with raging stream rushing through. That was the photograph I was after.

Little was I to know that my age old dream of witnessing my Monarch of the Glen moment was awaiting me. Driving back along the road and negotiating another blind summit and another blind corner, there they were. A large herd of stags. Far from being startled by me driving along, they were in fact curious. They didn’t move, they didn’t flinch. They merely stood and stared at me. And so it remained, a stand off. I couldn’t drive any further as they were across the road in large numbers.

I quickly reached for my camera, turned the ignition off, slowly got of my car and start photographing them. Hearing a noise behind me, or heavy breathing to be exact, I turned to see more had gathered to see what or who I was. As I turned I noticed the sun was directly behind them – perfect lighting. They remained steadfast as if saying “this is our land, you move”, or maybe they wanted food. But I had none, I had eaten my last cereal bar 5 minutes earlier and I didn’t feel it worth going back to the car and collecting some of the murray mints I still had left. I quickly shot off a series of photographs before the light changed.

These 10 minutes was my Monarch of the Glen moment and I was so privileged to have seen it.