DELIGHTED youngsters and their parents watched on in amazement as a group of acrobatic owls invaded Redbridge for a day.

The event, held yesterday, saw a mass of the birds put on a special display for families at Hainault Forest Country Park.

Expert Phil Eckett, of the Owl Wise group, brought along his selection of barn, tawny, boobook and European eagle owls, with the birds putting on an impressive show of their flying skills.

And children were delighted when they got a chance to get up close and stroke the fluffy creatures afterwards.

Mr also Eckett spoke of his organisation's work in helping to rescue injured birds from the wild, and the importance of looking after the environment.

He said: "I hope the children had fun and enjoyed it, but of course the bottom line is education.

"There are a lot of myths surrounding owls, like the belief that they are nocturnal, which isn't the case for the vast majority of owl species.

"Owls are becoming more and more threatened in Britain. The barn owl still has a very raw deal because of a big loss of their traditional habitats like long grass lands and hedgerows.

"Because of prairie farming you don't get lots of smaller fields anymore - only giant ones, and most hedgerows are right by roads. Barn owls are not very strong flyers so they can easily get caught in slipstreams and get splattered by cars. Over 5,000 owls are killed on Britain's roads every year.

"I hope the families that came learnt something about owls and how important it is to protect habitats."

Email owlwise@hotmail.co.uk for more on the Owl Wise group.