A five-day operation was mounted after congealed oil was discovered at Sinclair's Bay last Thursday. The discharge is thought to have been released last month from the Beatrice Alpha platform, around 12 miles off the east coast of the county.

Beaches from Freswick Bay in the north to Dunbeath in the south were also reported to have traces of oil on them, as were Keiss harbour, Auckengill pier, Freswick Bay, the Haven at Sarclet and the Trinkie swimming pool at Wick's South Head.

A spokesman for the Highland Council was unable to give an estimate of the cost of the clean-up yesterday but stressed that the local authority will be meeting with Talisman soon to discuss the matter.

"No further work has been undertaken since the clean-up of Sinclair's Bay was completed earlier in the week. Most of the oil on Reiss beach has been removed," he said.

Meanwhile, the 20 tons of pollution which was removed from Reiss beach was stored at Subsea 7's Wester yard and was expected to be shipped away by a specialist firm today, although no more details were available when the John O'Groat Journal went to press last night.

As reported in Wednesday's Courier, Talisman admitted that tests revealed there was a "significant match" between a sample of the Beatrice crude and the oil discovered at Sinclair's Bay.

A company spokeswoman said a small oil spill from the Beatrice Alpha platform on Thursday, April 24, was the likely source of the marble-sized tar balls washed up on Reiss beach.

She said a three-day aerial monitor appeared to show that the oil – amounting to around 250 kilograms – had dispersed naturally.

Talisman agreed to meet all clean-up costs incurred by the Highland Council and offered additional resources and manpower if necessary. A full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the spill has been launched.

A five-day clean-up along Sinclair's Bay, co-ordinated by the local authority's emergency planning department, came to an end on Tuesday afternoon.

Members of the public were advised on Friday to keep off the beach where the Highland Council had erected two warning signs. More than 20 tons of oil waste was removed by hand and taken in two skips from the 4.5km site, where the oil had accumulated in a three-metre-wide band along the beach.

It was feared that the oil spill could pose a threat to wildlife and seabirds in the area but wildlife experts were optimistic that the pollution had not had a major environmental impact.

Sinclair's Bay borders two EU-designated nature protection areas which include species such as razorbill, puffin, guillemot, kittiwake and shag. It is also visited by other important species such as eider ducks and red-throated divers.

Although the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had reported no finds of any casualties among the local colonies of internationally-important seabirds, there was one sighting of a dead sandwich tern at St John's Pool, near Dunnet, which appeared to have oil in its feathers.

An RSPB spokeswoman said: "In terms of bird casualties, it looks like we've been quite lucky on this occasion, but it's harder to say what the knock-on implications could be."

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