IT WAS the white that caught my eye; a flash of undulating paleness as this female roe deer bounded away from me by the banks of the River Devon near Tillicoultry.

Roes are curious animals and the chances are she would pause for a second or two to have a look at me. Sure enough, she soon stopped and stared back in my direction, almost as if doing a double-take at the source of danger she was fleeing from.

Ah, I do enjoy it when my second-guessing turns out to be correct, and this inherent curiosity enabled me to examine her in more detail; the fine lines of the body, the warm brown fur and large curious eyes. Satisfied that I was indeed a potential threat worth running away from, she took to her heels once more and disappeared into nearby woodland.

In recent weeks my trail-cam – a remote sensor operated camera – has been located by a badger sett in the Wee County, and as well as badgers, on several occasions has also filmed passing roe deer, including a young fawn, its brown coat dappled with white.

The badger activity on the trail-cam has been compelling, too, and the three cubs in the sett are a good size now, yet still somewhat boisterous, spending much of their time engaged in play (stills from the videos are shown here).

When retrieving the trail-cam, I noticed near the main sett little pits dug into the ground, which are badger latrines that are used communally. Badgers are fastidious animals and once a pit becomes full of dung, it is left uncovered and a new one is dug nearby. Often you can find several pits together, which gives the ground a distinctive pock marked effect.

As well as providing sound hygiene practice, some latrines also occur a considerable distance from the main sett and are used as territorial markers.

@BroomfieldKeith