Lockdown has meant 15,000 eggs are left

A conservation charity needs to give away 15,000 chocolate Easter eggs before they go to waste.

With a use by date of June, bosses at National Trust for Scotland want charities to come forward who could help give them away.

NTS had 30,000 eggs to give away as part of its annual Easter egg hunt. However as lockdown was imposed the charity was left with no visitors and a mountain of eggs.

Half the stock has already been given away to hospitals, foodbanks and good causes.

NTS customer director Mark Bishop said: "As well as being our biggest weekend of the year, Easter marks the start of the season for many of our properties but given the unprecedented global situation, everything had to be put on hold. In the midst of all this, though, we saw that some good could come out of the situation.

"Thirty thousand Easter eggs don't eat themselves and our operations teams have been finding places for them to go."

A total of 41 NTS properties had planned to run Easter egg hunts.

Suggestions about how to distribute the remaining eggs are being invited on NTS social media pages.

Eggs have already been donated to hospitals around the country, including paediatric wards in NHS Lanarkshire, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, Perth Royal Infirmary, Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, and Borders General Hospital.

Others have gone to food banks, Women's Aid and community food groups.