IT may have had the backing of Swindon Mayor David Cox, but the Shrub of the South is unlikely ever to become a reality.

The idea to carve an image of the Swindon Council emblem on hills alongside the M4 was an elaborate April Fool hoax.

And Coun Cox, who is always one to enjoy a joke, was persuaded to go along with the story.

The story, featured in yesterday's Advertiser, was one of a number of jokes pulled to mark April 1.

They included an imaginative group of pranksters who filled a pond at Purton with a giant image of a whale.