Over the last few months there have been numerous sightings of a mystery man living wild in Sutton Park, West Midlands. He has been dubbed Bark Foot because he wears a hat and shoes apparently made from tree bark. Patrick Sheehy told how his cousin Oliver was jogging through the 2,400-acre (970-ha) nature reserve one morning last May and was cutting through one of the holly groves when he collided with a man crouching over a pan full of sausages as he put out a fire.

The man's breakfast went flying. Oliver apologised and quickly departed as a gravelly voice shouted: "My snorkers are ruined!" A local reporter discovered the remains of a makeshift shelter with fireplace and frying pan. From April to June, this den was covered with blue plastic sheeting, according to John Fowler, whose dog first led him to the site in November 2003. "It was quite well hidden, about 40 yards [36m] off a path and covered with holly branches and bushes," he said. "Quite a few times you could see smoke coming out the top."

An old by-law forbids anyone from making the park his or her home. Mrs L Smith met Bark Foot at about 6.30pm on 25 July when he emerged from Queens Coppice, a clump of trees on a hill. He was covered in tree bark and leaves and his bark boots were held together with thin branches. He was holding a charred frying pan with a big hole in the middle. Grinning through an overgrown beard, he asked: "Have you got any sausages? I've run out." Mrs Smith replied that sausages were not the kind of thing one carries on a walk, but offered him some fudge, which he took with a nod and returned to the trees. Mrs Smith's companion said she noticed a small badge on his front bark lapel that said "St MirrenFC".

Peter Molesworth encountered the wild man as he walked his dog Zeberdee at 5.30am one morning in August. He described him as "5ft lOin [1.8m], 60 years old and very rough looking. He was wearing a cowboy-style hat made of bark, and a long, one-piece overcoat which looked like it had been woven out of leaves and reeds." He held a frying pan containing a dozen sausages and asked in a rough voice: "Would your dog like a sausage?" Mr Molesworth thanked him, but said Zeberdee had already eaten. Asked his name, the man said: "I'm Larchey. Larry Larch." He said that for three years he had been living in a tree house he'd built and that he used to be a "bottle opener designer" from Kernel Hempstead.

Sutton Coldfield Observer (W.Midlands), 16+23+30 July, 6Aug2004.