A climber has escaped with a suspected broken leg after falling more than 30ft from a north east of Scotland cliff.
The man, thought to be in his 50s, was rescued in a complicated operation which found one lifeboat crew member having to swim to him as resuers found it hard to find a safe place to reach the man at Redhythe Point, west of Portsoy.
It is understood that the man, thought to be in his 50s, was rock climbing with his son when he slipped and plummeted from the height.
Coastguard crews were scrambled at 6.30pm on Monday.
A helicopter was sent from Inverness, and the man was winched from the foot of the cliff at about with a suspected broken leg.
Macduff Lifeboat crew member Nicol Wood who was put ashore to help assess the casualty said: "When we arrived on scene, we found that there was nowhere safe for us to put the boat ashore, so I swam to the casualty to help assess him.
"The man was wearing climbing equipment but had ended up in the water at the bottom of the cliff with a rising tide, we quickly assessed him and got him ready for evacuation to hospital. I remained with the casualty until the Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 951 arrived and airlifted him."
Coxswain Chassey Findlay who was at the helm of Lydia Macdonald during the rescue said: "The location of the casualty, in a small narrow inlet, made the rescue more complicated, we were not able to get the boat right in to the casualty, but we were able to get close enough for Nicol to swim to him.
"We stood by at the mouth of the inlet while the medical assessment was carried out and ready to return should any first aid or rescue equipment or evacuation be required.
"After discussion with the coastguard team it was decided that the most effective way to recover the casualty was by winching to Rescue 951 so we moved to a safe location while they completed the rescue, we returned to the inlet and picked Nicol up before returning to Macduff."
Speaking after the boat was refuelled and returned to service lifeboat operations manager, Roy Morrison said: "It is incidents like this that remind us that while the Moray coast is a great place to visit for on water & coastal activities and is very safe, slips trips and falls along the coast can happen at any time.
"People using the coast for leisure should always carry a means of calling for help, a VHF radio if you are on the water or a mobile phone if you are on land.
"If you do suffer a slip trip or fall along the coast and require medical assistance, you should call 999 and ask for the coastguard, and they will be able to assist you and mobilise people to help you."
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