Beware of the pathways on Queen Elizabeth II s Balmoral estate in Scotland.

With public toilets closed during the coronavirus lockdown, some people have taken to peeing and pooping near busy walkways and monuments.

Staff at the British monarchs 50,000-acre property in Aberdeenshire were forced to tweet guidance over the weekend on where and how visitors should go to the bathroom outdoors.

If you need to pee, please do so at least 30 meters from lochs or streams, they advised in one tweet. If you need to defecate, do so as far away as possible from buildings, paths, water courses and farm animals. Bury faeces in a shallow hole and replace the turf.

Part of the problem is that we are seeing a lot of non biodegradable wipes being discarded in the countryside, staff wrote in another post, noting how people are choosing to relieve themselves right next to busy paths or monuments rather than move a little bit further away to avoid contamination.

Visitors were also cautioned against using authority-run public toilets near Lock Muick. The bathrooms are currently closed.

Unfortunately, people have been breaking into them and conditions inside are becoming unsanitary, the estate wrote on Facebook:

The grounds and gardens of Balmoral Castle, where the queen usually stays in the summer, are currently closed to visitors.

The estates public pathways are still open to the public.

The queen has been isolating during the pandemic some 500 miles away at Windsor Castle with Prince Philip.