Campers have been given an official warning for vandalism after a live tree was chopped down for firewood in a national park.

Police patrolling Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park found the group camping on the south shore of Loch Venachar on Tuesday.

Officers highlighted the need for responsible camping in the national park.

National park police officer Paul Barr said: "Cutting down trees to burn is vandalism and on this occasion the men involved were dealt with by way of a recorded warning.

"The vast majority of people who visit the area do so responsibly, but damaging trees, leaving litter or even abandoning tents in the park detracts from the natural beauty which attracts tourists in their thousands.

"Through Operation Ironworks, Police Scotland is committed to working closely with our partners in the National Park and Forestry Commission to encourage appropriate use of the great outdoors and target inappropriate behaviour."

Gordon Watson, CEO of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority said: "This kind of damaging, disrespectful behaviour is entirely unacceptable and unfortunately still too prevalent especially in popular loch shore areas.

"It represents a level of abuse of the environment that we have been working hard to eradicate through education on responsible camping.

"It is sad that despite this we still have to resort to enforcement measures once the damage has been done and in this instance our partnership working with Police Scotland has hopefully ensured that these individuals do not repeat this vandalism in the future."