Pigeon Plot

British spy chiefs drew up secret plans to use pigeons to spread false rumours about the impending D-Day landings.

The plot in 1943 to drop the birds into German-occupied France is revealed in newly declassified MI5 files released by the National Archives.

Germany had been intercepting pigeons carrying Allied notes, the files say, so MI5 moved to drop false information.

It planned to put extra pigeons over the west coast of France to give the impression the invasion would be there.

The revelations come in newly-released files on World War II called “Channels for deception”.

spoonbills breed in Scotland

Conservationists believe a wading bird rarely spotted in the UK has bred in Scotland for the first time.

Two spoonbills arrived on the Dee Estuary in Kirkcudbright earlier this year and three younger birds have been seen in the past few days.

The RSPB said the species was of European conservation concern and a very rare breeding bird in the UK.

Countryside ranger Keith Kirk said the spoonbills appeared to be flourishing in the conditions in southern Scotland.