Marten

I believe these droppings here were left by one of the two martens present in our area. Both Beech (a.k.a. Stone, House or white breasted) and Pine martens are present and common in our forests; the former more common in the valley. Theirs droppings are twisted, compact and slightly pointed on one end, often revealing their food undigested remains - here, there are rose hips in one dropping, and some fruit stones (both martens complement their carnivorous diet by fruits, in partcular in winter). The last, fresh dropping appears to be left at the same time as wet component (the log was wet around droppings in pics 1 and 2). Here, it appears the animal is using this log as a toilet, or it is marking its territory by piling its droppings near its burrow - some of literature link this behaviour with Beech marten, more than with Pine marten... Last two pics are taken 15 days later, and this spot appears to be in use as "toilet" less often - no fresh droppings were found. With all this in mind, I'm running this as Beech marten's droppings for now...