A man in the north of Scotland has been charged in connection with the theft of two valuable bee colonies from their hives.

Police were tipped off with information about the incidents in Sutherland as a result of media coverage.

Officers went to an undisclosed location and waited for the arrival of a man to tend beehives.

Dornoch-based Inspector Alan Drummond said: "A report in this case has gone to the procurator-fiscal for possible further action."

French bees

Police at Bonar Bridge were called in last month to investigate the second theft of bees in the area in three months.

A French bee colony which had been concealed in dense woodland at Aultnagar, near Invershin, had been stolen.

The owner of the first lot of bees to disappear was Michael Baird, vice-president of Sutherland Beekeepers Associations.

Both colonies were estimated to be worth hundreds of pounds.