Suffolk surfacing company Toppesfield has welcome three unusual new recruits – in the shape of a trio of five feet tall owls.

Toppesfield, which is based at Claydon, near Ipswich, and operates across the country, successfully bid for the owls at a charity auction in aid of the Big Hoot campaign run in support of a £3.65million appeal for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

The Big Hoot saw the city’s streets lined during the summer with a varieity of individually designed owls, which raised a total of more than £530,000 when they went under the hammer.

One of the owls secured by Toppesfield will find a home at the company’s new regional office in Birmingham while the others will stay at its head office at the Hill View Business Park.

The hospital’s Star Appeal aims to enable the creation of a rare diseases centre in the UK specifically for children, the first of its kind. It will provide co-ordinated care, treatment and support to children and families living with a rare or undiagnosed condition.

Toppesfield chief executive and founder Matthew Pryor said: “The auction was a fantastic event. We are privileged to have been part of such a momentous evening, supporting such a worthy cause as the Star Appeal.

“We are delighted to welcome these cheerful new team members to the Toppesfield family and hope they make people smile.”

Toppesfield, which was founded in 2004, carries out a variety of highways work across the East of England, the South East and the West Midlands, together with projects in the airports, defence, commercial, health, education and sport sectors. It is on track to generate turnover of £110million in its current financial year, to the end of May 2016.