THREE baby barn owls had a lucky escape after being found amongst straw in the back of a lorry.

Four pink helpless birds were brought into Secret World Wildlife Rescue, in east Huntspill, by the driver of the lorry back in June.

The man had loaded up his lorry with straw bales at a farm as normal, but then when he arrived at his delivery address he heard chirping and was surprised to see the babies moving around in the straw.

Animal carer Dan checked the owletts in for care, and warmed them up in an incubator.

Sadly one of the babies was too weak and died very quickly.

The three survivors went into the care of experienced owl-rearer Trudi, a Secret World animal carer.

Trudi said: "I have cared for many wildlife orphans but never barn owls this young.

"They were pink with a little white fuzz when they arrived but they quickly began to grow downy white fluff.

"At this age they would still be totally reliant on their parents and would not be leaving the nest, so I have been feeding them small pieces of meat several times a day and keeping them warm and quiet.

"One of them is much smaller but they are all doing really well and they grow and change each day.

"They still need me to feed them, using tweezers, but once they can feed themselves I will have as little contact with them as possible.

"Then when they are mature enough they will go back to Secret World and live in an outdoor aviary where they will learn to fly and develop natural behaviours until they are eventually released back into the wild, which will be done gradually with support.

"It’s a long process but we have successfully reared and released barn owl orphans before so we know how to give them the best possible start."

Visitors to Secret World may have the chance to see the centre’s resident adult barn owls, Shadow and Zazoo during the summer.

They were both unwanted pets, born in captivity, so they were taken in by Secret World – but as they had been kept as pets they sadly couldn’t be released.

Secret World is open to the public every day this summer from 10am to 4pm.

Entry is free but all donations are welcome.