A baby owl and his parents at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden have attracted so many excited birdwatchers that restrictions have had to be put in place, staff say.

A pair of rare Brown Wood Owl have bred again after four years at the farm’s nature reserve. The arrival of their baby has prompted hordes of bird lovers to turn up to take photographs.

In order to protect the owls, public access to the hillside where they are nesting has been restricted, staff said at the weekend.

“Our role is to protect the bird and manage the visitors, and check for visitors that might be using laser pointers or playing owl sounds, all to take a great picture, but at the same time causing great disturbance to the birds,” the farm said on Facebook.

The farm said it understands that some photographers may be unhappy with the measure, but urged people to put the well-being of the owls first.