EASTER arrived late for Liberty’s Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre in Ringwood, with falconers at the conservation charity welcoming their first hatchling on April 17.

The tawny owl took 36 hours to crack its way out of its shell and is now receiving round-the-clock care from the centre’s team of falconers.

The new arrival at the centre comes a week before Liberty, the Alaskan bald eagle the centre takes its name from, marks her 21 birthday on April 25.

Co-founder of Liberty’s, Jayson Bridges said: "Seeing a chick break its way out of the egg really is a very special experience. I now have my hands full ensuring it is fed four times in a 17 hour period.

"This is one of our favourite times of the year at the centre, and we know from our visitors that they love coming in to see our baby owls too. Sadly due to the current social distancing guidelines in place we are not able to welcome any visitors to the centre, but we will be uploading lots of videos to our social media channels of these beautiful young birds as they discover their surroundings so that people don’t miss out."

The conservation centre has uploaded a birthday card template to their Facebook page that can be downloaded and coloured in to celebrate Liberty's birthday.

To see updates on the baby tawny owl, or to access Liberty’s birthday card and the centre's homeschool materials, visit https://m.facebook.com/libertysowlraptorandreptilecentre/