Scotland's first commercial goldmine will be dug near the banks of Loch Lomond, national park authorities confirmed yesterday.

Q. We live in a conservation area and have a large tree in our garden that is causing damage to our garden wall and the foundations of our house, as well as affecting the TV reception we get from our satellite dish. There is no Tree Preservation Order in place, but my neighbour says I still need to tell the council if I wish to fell the tree. Is this correct? Or is my neighbour misinformed?

Miles of lava have spread across a national park in Hawaii after the Kilauea volcano erupted.

For villagers and their families it is a tragedy, but for tiger conservationists a sudden rise in the number of attacks offers welcome, if gruesome, evidence the predator is staging a comeback.

A killer grizzly is roaming Yellowstone National Park's backcountry after mauling a man who apparently surprised the female bear and its cubs while hiking with his wife.

The white-tailed eagle floated effortlessly, on wings spanning more than 8ft, above the deserted woods and fields of what was once a state-run Communist collective farm. The enormous raptor, known in Britain as "the flying barn door", is the most visible evidence of a remarkable ornithological success story that has occurred in eastern Germany after the collapse of Communism more than two decades ago.

Castaway turned television presenter Ben Fogle said he was "bitterly disappointed and sad" yesterday after failing to buy the remote Scottish island which catapulted him to fame.