Here's a rare bird sighting beyond the pale — Britain’s first known white sparrows.

Experts say a mutant gene means the two fledglings lack brown pigment melanin in their feathers.

The UK’s first white sparrows have been spotted. A rare mutant gene caused the birds to be white

Clare Kendall, who snapped the albinos on the Kennet and Avon canal in Wilts, said: “I was in disbelief.”

The birds’ parents are brown.

According to a report in 2014, sparrows are among the worst hit species and have declined by 150 million birds in the last 30 years.

The birds’ parents are brown

Sparrows are significantly affected by urbanisation

Conservationists blame increased urbanisation and fragmentation of the birds habitat.

Dr Richard Inger, an ecologist at the University of Exeter, who led the 2014 study said,”We should all be worried that the most common species of bird are declining rapidly because it is this group of birds that people benefit  from most.

The number of sparrows is in decline

Locals will be looking out for the birds

Back at the Kennet and Avon Canal, Clare Kendall and her troop of sparrow  watchers say that they’ll be keeping the birds safe.