A full-time "minder" has been appointed to keep a close eye on corncrakes which have returned to the Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve in East Yorkshire.

Naturalists are determined to protect the corncrake from threatened extinction after its return to Yorkshire. It is the rarest breeding bird in England and has a distinctive nocturnal rasping call.

Now, English Nature has asked Craig Ralston to watch over the corncrakes full time to make sure the small population is sustained.

English Nature is working with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Carstairs Countryside Trust, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and local farmers in a desperate attempt to prevent the species becoming extinct.

Craig said: "I suppose you could call me a 'minder'. I've worked for English Nature for several years but for the next two months my job is to survey the birds.

"What we are trying to do is firstly locate them and find out how many there are.

"Then we need to establish what sort of habitat they are living in so we can look at how we do management in the future."

English Nature believes the country's only two or three pairs of breeding corncrakes in the country are in East Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, Craig said reports of a corncrake in the area of Naburn and Stillingfleet could well be investigated.

Evening Press graphic designer Catherine Cross said she had heard what she thought was the sound of a corncrake while working one night at the Snowlandia Boarding Kennels, near Naburn.

"It sounded just like the sound of the corncrake I heard on the radio," she said.

Craig said that although the sound could be explained in two other ways, it was worth investigating and he would be happy to go along to the area and listen for them.

Peter Bowler, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said: "We would certainly be interested in hearing from people who have heard or think they have heard corncrakes calling. It helps if people report sightings.

"It is important to build up a picture of where they are."

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