THERE have been big celebrations over the arrival of Britain’s littlest owl chicks at a popular arboretum.

Two baby little owls are the latest arrival at the bird of prey and mammal centre at Thorp Perrow Arboretum near Bedale, and the hope is they will become a star attraction at the centre when they are older and flying together in demonstrations.

For parents Tiny Tim and Tinkerbell, who were captive bred, it’s their first offspring, the new additions have been called Spud and Sprout.

Falconer Olly Rycroft said the chicks were born last week when they were the size of his thumb and have grown dramatically already.

“We were so pleased when the eggs hatched, this is unique for us, it’s the first time we have managed to breed Little Owls. We have had a male little owl for a long time but have been struggling to trace a female until earlier this year.

“The problem is the size of them, the chicks are so tiny it is not easy to look after them, they are being hand reared and we are hoping in the future, possibly by the end of the summer, they will be doing flying demonstrations, so the public will be able to see them.

At the moment the falconers have no idea what the sex of the baby chicks is, which is why they gave them generic names.

“It’s impossible to tell at this stage unless you have them DNA tested and we don’t want to do that, it’s really wonderful to have them here, when they are ten to twelve weeks we might be able to tell by their weight what sex they are, but it’s very much a case of wait and see,” added Mr Rycroft.

The pair will eventually grow to around 22cm high, in the wild they can sometimes be seen in daylight perching on a tree branch or telegraph pole. Little owls were introduced into Britain in the late 19th-century, and have been doing well, although the RSPB breeding bird survey estimated the UK population was down by 24 per cent with around 5,700 breeding pairs.