Wildlife experts have reacted with disgust after discovering tonnes of rubbish dumped at a Perthshire beauty spot.
Televisions, building materials and even medical waste were carelessly discarded on the shores of Craiglush Loch, near Dunkeld.
The stretch of water, which feeds into Loch of the Lowes, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is often used by the area’s famous osprey family.
The fly tipping has already resulted in a bird being “severely” injured after it became tangled up in fishing equipment, the use of which is banned at the reserve.
Scottish Wildlife Trust head ranger Emma Rawling revealed the extent of the mute swan’s injuries.
She said: “The injuries were horrific the bird’s head was pulled down to its neck and its jaw was dislocated. There was also blood all over the neck, where hooks had pierced its throat.
“Despite our best efforts for over two hours on both lochs, we were unable to catch the poor bird. It will not survive unless it gets urgent veterinary help and we will continue to try to catch it.”
The male swan is unable to eat because of the hooks and staff and volunteers have spent the last five days desperately trying to rescue it, to no avail.
Sadly, if it doesn’t receive medical attention soon, the bird may not survive so it is being regularly monitored until it can be caught.
Ms Rawling said the discovery of the swan “added insult to injury”, as it came just minutes after a team of volunteers had spent a “soul-destroyingly depressive” day clearing rubbish from Craiglush Loch.
They collected 16 large bags of waste over a mile-long stretch by the A923, completely filling a trailer.
She hit out at those responsible, saying: “What a staggering testament to people’s indifference and selfishness. This litter not only pollutes woods and water, it can be life-threatening to wildlife.
“To make it all worse, the SWT now has to pay good money to dispose of all this dumped rubbish after we’ve worked so hard to clean it up.
“All this on one of Highland Perthshire’s most beautiful lochs in a National Scenic Area it’s appalling.”
Although she has been angered by the collection of waste, Ms Rawling told The Courier that her faith in humanity has been restored by visitors to the Dunkeld reserve.
She continued: “We have had an outpouring of support from people. Many have said how good it is to highlight the issue and have offered to help.
“We also had one person asking if they could donate money to help with the cost of disposing of the rubbish. It’s really nice to have people reacting like that.”
The team at Loch of the Lowes has now pledged to carry out regular patrols of the area around the SWT visitor centre and Craiglush Loch in a bid to deter fly tippers.
Ms Rawling also hopes they will think twice about dumping rubbish after realising the devastating effect it can have on local wildlife.
“We will do an annual clean-up in that area, but hopefully it won’t get that bad again,” she added.
“We tend to find that if there’s litter lying around, people dump more, so if we keep it looking nice, then hopefully they will take their rubbish home with them and discard of it properly.”