Emergency services raced to a Scots harbour after a pod of dolphins became stranded on a low tide this afternoon.
Coastguard and lifeboat crews were called to the Bayhead Estuary in Stornoway after the animals became stuck on mudflats on the receding tide.
The incident happened at around 12.25pm on Monday, August 8.
On arrival at the scene the emergency teams noticed the dolphins had refloated but were circling in shallow water and were clearly in distress.
As shocked locals watched on, the coastguard requested the assistance of the Stornoway RNLI ‘Y’ boat - who skilfully managed to coax them out to deeper water.
The dolphins managed to make their way out past Arnish lighthouse before joining up with another pod of 10 dolphins - much to the delight of the small crowd.
A spokesperson for the Stornoway Coastguard Rescue Team said: "Thank you to the local kayakers who also assisted.
"We are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to those in need.
"Search and rescue - it's what we do."
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