A walker has been rescued in dark and snowy conditions with the help of a shepherd after becoming lost and disoriented in the hills.

The man raised the alarm at around 4pm on Thursday after losing his way as he tried to reach a remote bothy above Bentpath, near Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway.

A search was launched involving more than 20 members of Moffat Mountain Rescue Team, a Police Scotland mountain rescue team from Glasgow and a search and rescue helicopter from Caernarfon in Wales.

A local shepherd then reviewed the search and helped lead them to the missing person.

The missing man's car was not found at the expected location which opened up the search area considerably, rescuers said.

He had managed to locate a remote mast to wait beside but it was not clear where this was.

The rescue effort was also hampered by heavy snow showers.

Rescuers reviewed possible search areas with the shepherd which led them to a remote forest track where the missing walker's car was found.

Soon afterwards Moffat Mountain Rescue Team members located the missing man at around 10pm and were able to bring him safely off the hill.

Shaun Duignan, team leader of Moffat MRT said: "Once we were unable to locate the car this search had the potential to become a protracted search through the night.

"A team effort by the helicopter, Moffat MRT and Police Scotland MRT quickly eliminated search areas which then helped when we reviewed the search with a local shepherd.

"This led the team to redeploy to the area where the missing person was located." The man was very cold but otherwise well when he was found.