Mermaid of the North could be joined by merman

Balintore is already home to artist Steve Hayward's Mermaid of the North

A sculpture of a merman, a mythical part-man, part-fish creature, has been proposed for the Easter Ross coast.

Seaboard Memorial Hall Ltd has sought planning permission from Highland Council for the artwork at Balintore.

The small village is already home to the Mermaid of the North, a sculpture made by artist Steve Hayward in 2007.

The new art has been proposed as a celebration of the maritime history of the Seaboard area, which includes Balintore, Hilton and Shandwick.

The merman sculpture could be installed in an area laid with Caithness flagstone.

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If approved, it would form part of the existing Seaboard Sculpture Trail.

The mermaid sculpture was inspired by local folklore

Highland Council's North Planning applications committee will be asked to grant planning permission at a meeting next week.

Hayward's original 2007 artwork, made from wood and resin, was damaged by a storm in 2012.

In 2014 it was replaced with a bronze-cast sculpture of the same design.

The piece, which sits on a rock called Clach Dudh, was inspired by local folklore.

A fisherman is said to have taken a mermaid from the sea to be his wife and hid her tail to keep her trapped on land.

After having children, the mermaid found her tail and fled to the sea, but she would constantly return to shore with fish to feed her family.