Removing Japanese knotweed and other species is a priority in National Trust for Scotland’s new Plan for Nature.

Conservationists have abseiled down a 60-metre gorge in the Highlands to tackle invasive species such as Japanese knotweed in a bid to protect biodiversity in Scotland.

Rope access specialists from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) dealt with invasive plants which had grown in crags in Corrieshalloch Gorge National Nature Reserve in Wester Ross.

The gravity-defying feat is part of efforts to tackle invasive non-native species (INNS), including Japanese knotweed and rhododendron ponticum, under NTS’s new Plan for Nature, which identified it as the main driver of nature loss in Scotland.