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Everybody has at least one talent in life, I thought that mine was finding ptarmigan. I've learnt since that they are quite easy to find... Walk to the top of a mountain with snow on it and practically the only living animal you'll find at the top will be a ptarmigan. Simple.

For the final Autumnwatch programme, where Kate and Chris would be spending a few days in the Cairngorm Area, I was asked if there was anything I'd like to film to go along with the mountain theme. Perfect! As I'd been writing my article I was lamenting that it had been too long since I'd spent time filming hare and ptarmigan, so here was a great chance to catch up with them.

I thought I'd go one better than just trying to find them, I thought that I'd find out what it was really like to spend more than a few hours on the mountains. So I threw my tent into my rucksack and went off to spend the night on the top of the mountain with them.

I was hoping for a beautiful clear night, with an early morning frost... What we got was sleet, rain, high winds and constant mist. All I can say is that I haven't been so cold in a very long time. I was in Siberia last year in mid-winter and I didn't once get as cold as I got on top of Cairngorm.

There was no point in staying on top of the mountain - none whatsoever. Simply, my hands wouldn't work and my feet weren't far behind. We dropped below the clouds and quickly found some ptarmigan to film. I always love to get the creature I'm after, but I have to say that the highlight of the day was the bowl of soup, bacon roll, cappuccino and slice of cake we had when we got off the mountain all in one go. Ptarmigan thrive on the mountain, I froze.