A 20-year old owl reared two chicks in a specially provided box in the Kershope Forest near Scotland.

"The fact that the old girl had chicks shows that she must be in reasonable health," conservationist Brian Little told the West Cumbria Times and Star.

The Forestry Commission began a project in 1980 to protect the tawny owl and forestry officials note the project's contribution to the recent discovery.

The owl will become the oldest ever tawny oil in England if she survives the winter.

Tawny owls typically live about 4 years.