A DALMELLINGTON man has made an amazing discovery in a nearby forest and found fame with a world famous publication.

Amateur photographer Colin Roberts is passionate about capturing the wildlife in the area on film but he never expected to come across a family of pine martens.

He and his wife Margaret were out walking when they came across evidence of their presence, although he was slightly mystified as there aren’t many pine martens around.

Colin said: “They are the second rarest mammal in Scotland with only around 100 believed to be in the south west of the country.

“Pine martens had disappeared totally but were reintroduced in 1977 and it was quite exciting to discover a whole family.”

Since then, Colin and Margaret have been monitoring the nest via a camera trap, which is basically a hidden device which photographs the weasel-like creatures.

When one of them passes the camera, which also picks up their body heat, pictures are taken.

In addition, Colin has placed an extra lens in front of the equipment which has resulted in the sharply-focussed photos he has shared with the Chronicle.

“The daylight photos are of Mrs Brown, she produced two kits — young pine martens — in 2016 and three kits in 2017.

“All three kits from 2017 are still visiting our cameras, we have Katy a female kit, Keane a male kit and Cullen also a male kit, Cullen is the marten in the night photos.

“We also have a resident adult male at this location named Jagger. We now have 11 martens visiting our cameras over four locations,” Colin said.

One of the kits which left the nest a year ago made an unexpected return, sparking a fight between it and a younger brother.

Their posturing and growling, as well as some vicious biting, is dramatically captured in footage which came to the attention of National Geographic.

They bought exclusive rights to the film and it has now attracted attention all over the world but, back in East Ayrshire, Colin’s project continues.

He added: “One of the females is due to give birth this week and there will be many sightings as she has to leave the nest to hunt for food.

“In general they have to come out in the summer for food but they emerge during the longer periods of darkness in the winter.”