NIGHT owls will be on the prowl this weekend for a celestial close encounter.

Stargazers will be gathering at Dalby Forest for the annual summer Nightwatch, training their telescopes out into space.

Martians will be on the menu because the mammoth event coincides with the closest approach by Mars for an impressive 60,000 years.

Closer to home, experts will be on hand tracking down owls, bats and moths.

Ranger Andrew Orland said more than 100 keen astronomers from across the UK would be travelling to the event, hosted by Scarborough Astronomical Society.

"For one special night only they will be offering a peek through their powerful telescopes and explaining more about stars, clusters and galaxies. And of course there's also the chance of a one-in-a-lifetime view of Mars."

But whether or not there's life on the red planet, there will be plenty of action down at ground level.

Spooks, a rescued barn owl, will be there with Jean Thorpe, from Ryedale Owl Rehabilitation Centre, to help search out his wild cousins, and radar detectors will be used by Kirkbymoorside man Lesley Helliwell for a bat hunt.

There's also the chance to go moth trapping, using harmless lamps.

The event, on Saturday is based around Dalby Forest Visitor Centre, starting at 8pm.

Entrance costs £3 for adults and £2 concessions and for more information phone 01751 460378.

Updated: 10:42 Tuesday, July 29, 2003