Outlander star Sam Heughan leads New York Tartan Day parade

Actor Sam Heughan has led the annual Tartan Day parade in New York for the second time.

The Outlander star said he was honoured to be selected as Grand Marshal for this year's event, reprieving a role he first performed in 2016.

The parade is held every April as the culmination of Tartan Week, a celebration of Scottish culture and Scottish‑American heritage.

It also includes trade delegations and networking events promoting Scotland's economic, cultural, and educational links with the United States

Several thousand marchers, including more than 1,500 bagpipers and Highland dancers, made their way down Sixth Avenue on Saturday on what turned out to be a fine spring day.

Scottish businesses taking part included Walker's Shortbread which unveiled a giant shortbread Scottie dog at the Algonquin Hotel made up of 1,400 shortbread pieces, to mark its 50th year of US exports.

Author and 'Global Scot' Ian Houston said the Tartan Week celebrations were always a highlight of his calendar - and a lot was also going on behind the scenes.

He told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: "You have Scottish Chambers of Commerce here, Glasgow Chambers of Commerce, Moray Chambers of Commerce, you have various business entities here who are promoting business, SMEs, small business and investment in Scotland

"VisitScotland are here, universities are here to ensure that students here have an opportunity to think about coming to Scotland to study - that's a business issue too."

The first Tartan Day NYC parade was held in 1999 when a small group of Scottish Americans were led by actor Cliff Robertson - whose grandmother was Scottish - from the British Consulate to the United Nations building.

Over the years parade leaders have included Sir Sean Connery, Sir Billy Connolly, Alan Cumming, Brian Cox, Gail Porter, Karen Gillan and KT Tunstall.