A day outing to Stroma last weekend saw two Caithness women go on a rescue mission to save a lamb trapped on a cliff ledge.

Stroma is an island in the Pentland Firth close to John O'Groats and was deserted by its human inhabitants in the early 1960s. However, there is still life on the island as the current owner, Willie Simpson, has a flock of sheep grazing there.

Fiona Coffield from Wick and Michelle Mackay from Watten were taken across the firth in a party of seven friends last Sunday by Mr Simpson who does day trip excursions when the weather allows.

Fiona said: "We were on Stroma from 10am until 4pm and exploring the island when we heard a lamb crying somewhere close by.

"We had to climb down the cliff and I had a blanket to try and catch it. There was no sign of its mum anywhere."

The two women went down a steep slope by the cliff where the lamb was trapped on a narrow ledge and used the blanket to try and capture it. Once the lamb was safely down on the pebbly beach below it escaped from the blanket and the two friends struggled to capture it so they could get it back to the ground at top.

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"It was a struggle to get the lamb and was like pass-the-parcel to take it back up the cliff," added Fiona.

The farmer was delighted at their bravery and the lamb had now been reunited with its mother and the rest of the Stroma flock.

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