There's a man in Settrington who sees little green men wherever he goes.

Bruce Skinner has a most unusual pastime - he collects sightings of the ancient pagan figure - the Green Man. He has visited most of Ryedale's 120 churches in the hope of finding the mysterious pagan figure which decorates many of our Christian churches.

"It's an obsession," he says. "The Green Man is fascinating and has grown into so much more. It takes you to the churches. By visiting all these churches, I realised I was enjoying myself."

As a result, he has written a guide, How to Read a Country Parish Church. "I'll send anyone an e-mail copy if they like," he said.

He added: "Taking photographs is a challenge. Most Green Men are too high and dark to photograph well. It has rekindled my interest in photography. Hunting for the Green Man is a bit like golf. It's not so much a game, as a disease."

Bruce is a Cornishman. He was rather piqued that his home village of Caradon turned down an offer he made to put his local Green Man findings on their website. "They told me there was not enough interest. It's a good job Newton and Einstein didn't come from Caradon," he exclaimed indignantly. For the past two years, Bruce has been enjoying life in Ryedale. It was love that brought him here when he retired.

"A woman will draw you further than gunpowder can blow you."

And he laughed and paused, distracted for a brief moment from the green men.

His career as a health, safety and environment manager with BP took him all over the world. In his last posting to Peru, he noticed that paintings by people from a certain village in the mountains were all based around the shape of a triangle, or pyramid.

"An anthropologist working for me said the triangle represented the mountain god Apu. When the Conquistadors came and saw they were all worshipping the mountain god, they stuck crosses on the top."

He likes to think that in a similar way, Christianity adopted the Green Man as a sop to the druids. Although, as he points out, a Green Man was first portrayed by the Romans in the first century AD. It probably came even earlier.

Green men are found in many other countries all over the world. "In Valencia in Spain, there are more green men than you can shake a stick at," he said when he came back from a ten-day holiday there.

Besides collecting green men, Bruce is a Citizens Advice Bureau volunteer and a keen wood carver. He would be very pleased to hear if other people have found any green men in the area he hasn't yet seen.

Bruce will be at the CAB in Wentworth Street, Malton, with his woodcarving of the Green Man, on December 1, when the CAB is holding a craft fair. Alternatively, you can contact him on (01944) 768276 and he would be happy to give you pointers as to where in Ryedale you can find the elusive Green Man.

The Green Man is usually portrayed by just a head, intertwined with vegetation. Often the greenery comes from his mouth or nostrils, his hair or beard is foliage, or a foliate motive will meld from his face. The most usual foliage is oak, acanthus, vine or hawthorn.

Updated: 10:42 Thursday, November 29, 2001