Much of the Beinn Bhraggie forestry is monotonous pine plantation, some of it much thicker and darker than in this picture, and it is a silent world, with little sound except the call of the occasional bird.
Some of it is, however, mixed woodland, and much more interesting. Where this woodland meets a clearing - as here, where the trees have been cleared below a power line - the forest is at its liveliest, full of birdsong, and there is a far better chance of seeing some of the....
....other inhabitants of the forest, like this young roe deer buck, who was totally unaware of us when we spotted him.
As with all such encounters - and it was very close, as he was no more than thirty metres from us - it was a slight movement that caught our eye.
He was unaware of us so we are able to stand and watch him as he browsed his way from right to left until....
....the sound of the dustbin lorry collecting from the houses in Golspie Tower not fifty metres away disturbed him.
For a moment it seemed as if he would take fright but, as the truck moved away....
....he settled back to browsing. Then something - a movement perhaps, as the wind was blowing across us so he would not have caught our scent - made him....
....look straight at us.
He had discovered us, yet he seemed unworried - the local deer must be encountering humans constantly - but it seemed a shame to spoil his peace, so we carefully, but not too silently, carried on along the path, checking that he was still there, watching us, until we were out of sight.
Such encounters are a rare privilege, particularly when they are as prolonged as this, for we must have been watching him for ten precious minutes.
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