A herd of Scottish reindeer have been caught on camera trying to cool off on a patch of snow.

The temperature reached 19C in the Cairngorms when the pictures were taken on Wednesday.

Gary Hodgson from Tarmachan Mountaineering stumbled across the reindeer on Coire Domhain in Kincraig.

He said: "The blue skies and hot sun that the south have been enjoying this week finally spread up to the Highlands.

"With beautiful sunshine and virtually no wind, it was a scorcher on the hills.

"Up on the Cairngorm plateau the reindeer were cooling off on the Coire Domhain snow patch and dreaming of winter.

"Round at Stag Rocks the ptarmigan were up high and hiding away from the summer tourists."

Wild reindeer were believed to have died out in Scotland by the 13th Century.

They were first reintroduced to the Highlands in the 1950s and now a herd of up to 150 lives in the region.

The reindeer spend most of the year roaming freely in the Cairngorms and Cromdale.