A walking path at a popular north-east beauty spot has been closed, because of safety concerns after a landslip.
Aberdeenshire Council taped off the site, near Beach Road, at St Cyrus National Nature Reserve on Friday.
The authority was forced to take action after a rock fall blocked off the route, which is used by walkers, wildlife watchers and nature photographers.
The path has now been sealed off with a sign warning of falling rocks attached to the tape.
It is understood that plummeting temperatures, frost and heavy rainfall have combined to make the surface unsafe and susceptible to further landslips.
The nature reserve warned people to avoid the area on its Facebook page and said it would assess the damage later today.
The Mearns’ attraction, where humpback whales have regularly been spotted in recent years, recorded a bumper year for tourists in 2017.
Figures from Scottish Natural Heritage highlighted that visitor numbers from January to November were up almost 45% on the total for 2016.
Meanwhile, in another north-east coastal village, a road that was shut before Christmas due to a landslip is yet to reopen.
Mud has been sliding down an embankment that faces Gardenstown and is now being kept off the road by a concrete wall that was installed by the local authority last month.
A specialist team, made up of rope access experts, scaled the cliff at Harbour Road on Thursday to examine what could be done to prevent any further slippage.
However, the council confirmed on Friday the route would stay closed until further notice.