have been subjected to a similar level of scrutiny. Not all of the 1,100 records of species considered to be rarities at that time were assessed, but only those related to species not recorded more than 100 times by 1997, as well as a few records of less rare species under particularly unusual circumstances, which were termed "sore thumbs". Much of the original documentation was unavailable for the review, as it had been lost, and so for many records, the review was based solely on published accounts of the birds. The most notable outcome of this review was the reidentification of a frigatebird record from Tiree in 1953. Previously identified as a magnificent frigatebird, the BBRC review concluded that the bird was in fact an Ascension frigatebird, the only individual of this species ever identified in Europe (Walbridge, Small & McGowan 2003). The full results of the review were published in 2006. Of the 126 records reviewed, 37 were rejected as unacceptable. These included a claimed white-tailed eagle, which broke into a chicken-run in a garden and stole a chicken, three little crakes, three Eurasian scops owls, the only late December record of tawny pipit, three black-eared wheatears, a record of two White's thrushes together in April, a spring lanceolated warbler, two moustached warblers and a pine grosbeak. Furthermore, issues were found with the identification of Britain's first western sandpiper, on Fair Isle in 1956, and these led the BOURC to reject this record. The western sandpiper has been recorded several times subsequently in Britain however, and remains on the national list. The subcommittee's final report also hints at the prospect that some records from immediately prior to 1950 may be incorrect; because these fell outside the timeframes of the review they were not reassessed. The Chipping Ongar hermit thrush Only a single known hoax involving a record submitted to BBRC has become public. In autumn 1994, Nigel Pepper, a birdwatcher from Essex, claimed to have recorded a hermit thrush in a garden in Chipping Ongar. Doubts about the record were raised in Birdwatch and BBRC reviewed the record in 2002, but decided that it should stand. In 2009, Nigel Pepper came clean and revealed in Birdwatch magazine (Birdwatch 204: 46-47) that the record was actually a hoax, made in protest at perceived suppression of rare bird records in the county. He revealed that the Hermit Thrush in question was