Rare birds fly in!

It was good to see the Leicester Mercury keeping up the honourable traditions of reporting rare bird occurrences, with a fine article about the Stilt and Marsh Sandpipers at Rutland Water this week. It must be one of the first things trainees learn at journalist school...

Lecturer: OK, there are three golden rules when writing about rare birds: One - always start the article with the sentence "Hundreds of twitchers have flocked to [insert site name] hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare bird". Take it from an old hand, that's a real quality joke - twitchers 'flocking'. Just like birds! Two - always say that the rare bird has been "blown off course" by the wind - that will give your article some scientific credibility. Three - quote one of the twitchers who's seen it in a way that makes them sound like a sad loser. If you can't get a good quote, just make it up! And finally, don't forget the snappy headline: "Rare Bird Flies In!"