A shepherd has died in hospital after falling from a cliff on a quad bike at a remote spot in Sutherland.
He was named locally as father-of-three Sandy Robbins, who plunged more than 40 feet over a cliff.
His quad was spotted on the beach by a passer by who raised the alarm.
Mr Robbins was airlifted by Stornoway Coastguard search and rescue helicopter to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness but was pronounced dead at the hospital.
His wife, Anne, was away visiting family outwith the area with their young teenage daughter Sarah.
The couple also have two grown-up boys James and Tom, who live away. One is thought to reside in Canada.
The incident happened at Daill at Cape Wrath, the most north westerly point on mainland Britain.
Mr Robbins, who is in his 60s, is believed to have been tending to sheep at the time.
He worked for Balnakiel Farm at Durness looking after the flock of David Elliot, who has grazing rights at Cape Wrath, which is used by the military as a bombing and exercise range 120 days of the year.
The cape is accessed by boat across the narrow Kyle of Durness – and there are only two permanent residents, John and Kay Ure, who live at Cape Wrath lighthouse.
Mr Robbins lived at Rhigolter, about nine miles from Durness.
Local Highland Councillor Hugh Morrison said Mr Robbins had lived in the area for more than 20 years.
“The community is in shock – people are devastated at the news,” he said.
“We do not know exactly what happened. But he went over the cliff somewhere between Diall and Achimore. It is a drop of between 40 and 45 feet there.
“Somebody saw the quad on the beach and raised the alarm.
“Sandy was a lovely man, dedicated to his work and his family and people are in shock. It is a tragic accident. The community sends its deepest sympathy to Anne and the family. It is obviously a devastating thing to happen to them.”
Shetland (correct) Coastguard were alerted to the accident at 1.36pm.
Coastguard ground teams were also dispatched to the area but were stood down after the helicopter collected Mr Robbins.
A police spokeswoman confirmed this morning that he had died overnight in Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.
The death comes at a time when people are being asked to help buy the last bit of land the MoD does not own inside the country’s biggest bombing range.
At the centre of the unusual community buyout is just 111 acres around Cape Wrath Lighthouse.
But getting to the lighthouse, near the 900-feet highest vertical cliffs on mainland UK, is not easy.
It involves a seasonal ferry journey across the narrow Kyle of Durness and a 11 mile trip up a bumpy road. The only other route an 11 mile walk from near Kinlochbervie over rough, unmarked, but stunning, terrain.
But thousands of walkers and tourists head to the cape each year.
Three years ago the MoD was halted in its £58,000 purchase of the land from the Northern Lighthouse Board, which would have added to the 25,000 acres it already owns in the area.
The then First Minister Alex Salmond claimed it marked a step towards the Scottish government’s new target of a million acres of land in community control by 2020.
Mr Salmond added: “If the community is able to go ahead and successfully purchase the land, it will secure a stronger local economy for the people of Durness and preserve one of Scotland’s iconic landscapes for generations to come.
“Put bluntly, we would see more benefits for the local area rather than more land for bombing – the principal use the rest of the cape is put to by the MoD.”
The MoD had faced a strong campaign – a petition opposing the sale attracted thousands of signatures – that was backed by mountaineer Cameron McNeish among others.
Scottish Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse approved an application by Durness Development Group (DDG) to register a community interest in the site.
It means that the community have to be given first option to buy if the NLB goes ahead with plans to sell the land.
Because of the community’s interest, the MoD announced in 2014 that it had decided “not to proceed” with the purchase of land around the 400-feet high lighthouse, built in 1828 by Robert Louis Stevenson’s grandfather Robert.
But it is understood to remain an interested party.
A development plan by consultants commissioned by DDG said Wrath Cape Wrath currently attracts around 6,000 visitors each year and could manageably be increased to 10,000. The lighthouse could even be opened up to the public. The cape is estimated to be worth more than £600,000 to the Durness economy.
There was once a full-time community of around 35 people living on the cape in the 1930s. Today it just the Ures- who shot to worldwide fame when Kay was separated from husband for four weeks by the weather at Christmas in 2009 when she went to buy a turkey.