A dog walker was amazed to find a Royal Navy officer’s beret washed up on the shore in a remote area of the west Highlands.
Dale Meegan was taking her chocolate Labrador Zak and border collie Kala for their morning walk in Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula when they came across what looked like an old piece of cloth.
On closer inspection, she could see that it was a beret bearing a badge, which a bit of online detective work revealed to be a regulation issue Royal Navy wire embroidered officer’s cap badge.
Ms Meegan explained that she found the item while walking along the coast between the slipway and the Millburn.
She said: “I hadn’t walked that route for a while so I don’t know how long it had been there, but it looked as if it had been in the water and lain there for some time.
“I’m not really into beachcombing, but I’ve found bits and bobs on the shore before – most of them rubbish. However, this was something a bit different.
“I saw that it said NATO on the label inside it and wondered how it had got there.
“I don’t know if it was blown off somebody’s head or if there’s more of a story behind it. I just hope whoever it belonged to didn’t get into trouble for losing it.”
Ms Meegan added that she would love to be able to trace its owner and send it back, but had no way of doing so as there was no name or number on the beret.