I mentioned last week that we saw an otter outside our visitor centre. Another large mammal that I’ve seen quite a lot recently is roe deer. They keep quite literally popping up all over the place.

There are two types of deer native in Scotland: Red and roe deer. You will also find the introduced fallow and sika deer. You may not know this but deer can be identified quite easily by their bottoms. Roe deer has a creamy white rump and no visible tail, red is buff with a buff coloured tail. Fallow deer has a white heart shape with a horseshoe black border and long black tail and sika has a white heart shape with a black upper border and a white tail with a thin black stripe. You might wonder why I’m telling you this, what about antlers I hear you cry. Females don’t have antlers; only males do, so you wouldn’t be able to identify a female. Also, deer like to run away from people so you’ll always see their bottom!

Laura Preston – Scottish Wildlife Trust, Falls of Clyde Ranger