Ben Nevis hit by spectacular lightning strike

A BBC Weather Watcher captured the strike on camera on Monday evening

A spectacular lightning strike on the UK's highest mountain has been caught on camera.

The strike, which came during a thunderstorm on Monday evening, is thought to have shattered a stone pillar at the summit of Ben Nevis.

It was captured in an image taken by a BBC Weather Watcher from Corpach, near Fort William.

BBC Scotland Weather said the UK and Ireland recorded 28,000 lightning flashes on Monday .

Most of them were concentrated over north-west Scotland and Ireland amid heatwave conditions.

A further 4,800 lightning flashes were recorded across Scotland on Tuesday.

The damage to the pillar was spotted on Tuesday by Kinlochleven-based mountain guide Rich Pyne, who has been to the top of the 1,345m (4,413ft) mountain 562 times.

The damaged pillar was found the morning after Monday's lightning strike

The structure once had a metal plate - which had been missing before - with descriptions of locations visible from the edge of the peak's North Face.

Mr Pyne said: "I was puzzled why half the stone pillar was missing and rock and the cement doughnut from the pillar's top were in pieces.

"I've been working full-time in the Highland mountains for 10 years with regular ascents up Ben Nevis, so I notice changes up there as I see the place almost daily through the summer."

The pillar before it was damaged