Work has started to safeguard a popular walking path at a north-east beauty spot.
Aberdeenshire Council taped off the site, near Beach Road, at St Cyrus National Nature Reserve a fortnight ago following a landslip.
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.
Now the Scottish Natural Heritage site has drafted in rope workers to remove loose rocks from the cliff face.
And the route is expected to be closed until next month while contractors attach netting to the high risk areas to stop any further slips.
It is understood that plummeting temperatures, frost and heavy rainfall have combined to make the surface unsafe and susceptible to further landslips.
Therese Alampo, reserve manager, confirmed the path was unlikely to reopen before February 7.
She said: “The area will be meshed to further protect the public. Following scaling this was the contractors advice to further safeguard the most high risk areas.
“The area is very friable and the netting stops ‘loose’ material from cascading down the hill.”
Meanwhile, in another north-east coastal village, residents have learned that it could be months before a road closed before Christmas can reopen.
Access to Gardenstown’s port has been restricted since December, when the local authority was forced to close Harbour Road.
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.
The closure means people in the bottom of the village are unable to access the top in their cars. And residents have now been warned to expect further inconvenience.
Aberdeenshire Council’s landscape and roads engineers confirmed a solution to the problem was “months away”.
