A regional daily editor has branded a hoaxer the ‘lowest of the low’ following false claims made in the paper about a rare bird sighting.

Northern Echo birdwatching columnist Brian Unwin wrote excitedly last week of a reported appearance of two rare species at a reservoir in the region.

But it has now emerged that the alleged ‘sighting’ was a hoax.

Echo editor Peter Barron has now taken the hoaxers to task in a strongly-worded blog post.

Wrote Peter: “I have to say a correction in the Birdwatch column is a rare sighting indeed.

“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.”

“Brian, in mitigation, explains that the claim was plausible by virtue of the fact that Britain had been blasted by the remains of Tropical Storm Katia.

“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.”