East Lothian countryside rangers faced incidents of abusive behaviour over the weekend as they battled with fires and abandoned property at popular coastal destinations in the county.
A record number of tents were found at a number of beaches - including a whopping 146 at Yellowcraigs on Sunday morning - but the council warned that very few of these were from 'true wild campers'.
Carparks at both Yellowcraig and Gullane beaches and all three at Longniddry remained at full capacity 'at all times' over the weekend as visitors flocked to enjoy Scotland's heatwave in East Lothian - with the overflow carpark areas also fully packed.
Smouldering fires were found at 'several sites' and rangers dealt with an abandoned inflatable kayak, dinghy, air bed and bags of litter at Tyninghame beach.
According to East Lothian Courier, one of the busiest car parks, Yellowcraig, had 572 cars parked in its main and overflow car parks just after 5pm on Saturday night as thousands descended on the beach.
An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: "Yellowcraig, Gullane and all three Longniddry car parks were full at times. The overflow car park was opened at Yellowcraig at 10.30am and Gullane at 11.30am on Saturday (10.30am and 2.30pm on Sunday); both facilities remained full for the best part of the day.
"There was also a large number of vehicles parked on the verges and roadside at all locations where car parks were full.
"A record numbers of tents were found at a number of coastal sites (146 at Yellowcraig on Sunday morning), with few of these being true wild campers.
"Our countryside rangers visited sites and talked with visitors, offering advice. Most behaved responsibly; however, there were incidents of abusive behaviour directed to rangers in the west of the county and at Gullane, smouldering fires that required extinguishing at several sites, and an abandoned inflatable kayak, dinghy, air bed and bags of litter at Tyninghame."
