A dog that was being swept out to sea has been safely rescued after being spotted by a coastguard helicopter in training.
The UK coastguard was alerted to the cockerpoo in difficulty in the Moray Firth at Cummingston, on the north-east coast of Scotland, at 10.45am on Sunday.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said their search and rescue helicopter based at Inverness, which was training in the area at the time, was quickly able to locate the pet.
The crew then alerted the Moray inshore rescue boat crew, based at Findhorn, who went the aid of the animal.
An MCA spokesman said: “They pulled the dog onto the boat and returned it to its owners who were waiting on shore with the Burghead coastguard rescue team.
“In a few minutes the rescue was over and the coastguard helicopter returned to its Sunday training session.”