Bird-brained hoaxer has Northern Echo in a twitch

Is nothing sacred?

Northern Echo editor Peter Barron reveals on his blog that the paper's Birdwatch column has been hoaxed.

He writes: "Today's Birdwatch column, by the excellent Brian Unwin, begins thus: 'Forget everything in last week's column. It turns out a sick-minded hoaxer was responsible for the claim of a sooty or bridled tern at Derwent Reservoir.' "

Unwin explains that the claim was plausible because Britain had been blasted by the remains of Tropical Storm Katia.

But Peter Barron asks: "But what is the world coming to when we not only have looters, tax cheats, benefit fraudsters and doorstep conmen, but ornithological hoodwinkers in our midst.

"Sick-minded or bird-brained? It matters not. They are the lowest of the low, the bottom of the pecking order, and they should be ashamed."