One of Cumbrae’s best known landmarks has undergone a makeover in the past week, thanks to the efforts of the island's Burns Club.
The Indian’s face, a painted rock on the west side of the island, has been a focal point for generations of cyclists heading past Fintry Bay.
Painted red, white and black, the cliff rock had become increasingly overgrown by foliage. In recent years its features had started to fade.
Legend has it that the ‘nose’ of the rock was first painted as a guide for sailors coming into the stone jetty at Little Skate Bay, half a mile north of the tearoom at Fintry.
The clean-up team, spearheaded by Sandy Forrest and Donald Campbell, had to borrow a 10-metre ladder to reach the distinctively shaped rock face. They were given permission to carry out the work by landowner Alistair McIntyre.
"There was ivy and all kinds of wild growth climbing up the face,” said Sandy. "You could hardly see the Indian’s features.”
It took a day to clear the foliage, and the job of re-painting the Indian’s features continued this week. 
Getting to know the Indian face-to-face has given the clean-up team a new perspective on the rock.
"The mouth looks as if it has been chiselled into the sandstone,” Sandy continued. "From the road, the Indian can be quite forbidding, but close-up he seems rather friendly. He’s like an ancient carving.”