A group of volunteers have been busy cleaning and restoring a historic north-east monument.
Mormond Hill’s white stag was carved into the Fraserburgh-facing side of the hill in 1870 to match a similar figure of a horse on the slope that faces Strichen.
It measures 240ft long and was created out of quartz rock to mark the wedding of the local laird.
Records suggest it has been cleaned five times since the 30s, but yesterday a group decided to clear it of bracken and other debris to give it a new lease of life.
Pupils from Mintlaw Academy were enlisted to help with efforts to make sure the stag could be seen in all its glory once again.
Doug Simpson, one of the volunteers involved in the project, said they were kick-starting work to make sure the monument shines bright for years to come.
He said the clean-up had progressed “really well”, with the stag starting to emerge once again.
Mr Simpson said: “The kids were just brilliant and worked like Trojans.
“They cleared the four legs and you see more or less the full outline of the stag now.
“It was mostly bracken that we pulled out and now all that is left is heather and gorse.”
Mr Simpson said they are at the beginning of the clean-up operation and will return to the site during the coming days.
He said: “It is just the start of this clean up and there is plenty of work to do.
“We will be going back over the weekend with more volunteers.
“Once we have completed this job we will be looking for someone else to take it on. We really need a group to clean it every three years.”
The volunteers have been working alongside LAM Forestry, who cleared a path to the stag and sprayed it with weed killer.
Mystery surrounds the image of a horse that accompanies the stag.
It is believed to have been cut by Captain Fraser of the Flanders Campaign in 1794 to commemorate a sergeant who offered him his horse and was shot dead in the process.
Recently Mormond Hill has been used by Nato during the Cold War and by British Telecom as a home for antennae and aerial masts.
