Natasha Bedingfield and Paul Heaton open 21st Belladrum festival

Natasha Bedingfield performed on Belladrum's main stage

The 21st Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival opened on Thursday with main stage performances by Natasha Bedingfield and Paul Heaton.

About 20,000 people are expected to attend the Highlands' biggest music event over its three days.

Pop and R&B act Bedingfield brought her own twist, covering two songs from the 1990s - Portishead's Glory Box and The Cranberries' Zombie - during her set before finishing with her 2004 hit Unwritten.

Later, Heaton was joined by Lanarkshire singer Rianne Downey - one of this year's TRNSMT stars - for his performance in front of a packed Hot House stage crowd.

Bella's second day acts include Supergrass and CMAT - who were at Glastonbury earlier this summer - as well as Skippinish, Karine Polwart and a DJ set by Gok Wan.

Football-mad Heaton, a Sheffield United fan, visited the grounds of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Highland League club Clachnacuddin before pitching up at Bella, near Beauly.

The former The Beautiful South and The Housemartins frontman is also known for his strong views on politics and social issues.

He sang his protest song Heatongrad, and alongside Downey performed some of The Beautiful South's greatest hits, including Song for Whoever and Don't Marry Her.

Paul Heaton visited football grounds in Inverness before pitching up at Belladrum

Scottish singer Rianne Downey was a special guest during Heaton's set

Bella is usually blessed by fine weather, but Thursday was mostly a day of drizzly showers before clearing up in the evening - avoiding a repeat of 2017's "mud fest".

Other acts across the festival site on Friday will include Inverness' own Katie Gregson-MacLeod.

In 2022, when she was a student and working in a coffee shop, the singer-songwriter became a sensation after posting a 45-second clip to TikTok.

Overnight, the chorus of her song Complex amassed 100,000 views and comments from musicians Gracie Abrams, Lennon Stella and Maisie Peters.

Katie Gregson-MacLeod, from Inverness, is among the artists performing on Friday

Gregson-MacLeod told BBC Scotland News: "Belladrum was my first festival experience.

"I first came here in 2011 - I still have the t-shirt.

"I was about nine or 10 and me and my friend played these characters.

"We tied ties around our heads and we drew on moustaches and had temporary tattoos all over our faces, which my Mum was really pleased about."

The musician first played at Bella when she was 18, but said she was most nervous about a performance just weeks before the Tik Tok clip went viral.

She said: "I played the Hot House stage at 12pm on the Friday with a full band, and that felt like my biggest Belladrum moment."

After this year's Bella, Gregson-MacLeod has a series of tours including one with Glasgow singer Lizzie Reid, as well as shows with Matt Maltese and Tom Odell.

Next year she has a debut album coming out.

"It's going to be a busy few months," she said.

Friday featured Bella's usually eclectic mix of genres.

The afternoon's entertainment included Perth funk band Bohemian Monk Machine singing about an alien invasion.

They also performed a cover of Kool and the Gang's 1970s hit Jungle Boogie.

Meanwhile, around the same time, Country and Western group The Libby Koch Band were singing a "good ole Texas" tune about evicting an unwanted ex-lover.

BBC Alba is providing live coverage of the festival and iPlayer broadcasts across the weekend.

The shows can be watched live or on demand from Thursday on Belladrum on BBC Alba.