FROM Whitney's Rhydspence Inn they fanned out across the Wye Valley in search of a quarry whose very existence is called into question. At the head of the hunt Tom Fairfield has no doubts - the all too elusive animal he's spent years tracking through Herefordshire's 'wild' west seems so close now he can sense it, writes BILL TANNER.

"I know they're out there - and so do a lot of other people. Things are getting interesting."

Pine Martens put him out patrolling woodlands along the Powys border, an environment of which both hunter and hunted share intimate understanding. But one has been here since the Ice Age - plenty of time to effect evolutionary camouflage.

And so effective is this camouflage that Pine martens around these parts are regarded as extremely rare at best, extinct at worst.

Tom's persistence in trying to prove otherwise is paying off. He recently hosted a 'training day' on pine martens and their habitats for various forestry and environmental agencies.

After an initial introduction at the Rhydspence, the party fanned out on a Wye Valley field trip and a practical application of this new knowledge.

Tom is sure pine martens have a Herefordshire home, he's seen one. An eyewitness account, though, isn't enough. He needs a hair, or some other sample suitable for DNA testing to confirm a conservation coup.

Backed by the Forestry Commission and Brecon Beacons National Park, that's what he's after. Tempting his target with the prospect of creature comforts - den boxes that no pine marten could pass and checked regularly for that all-important evidence.

Several sightings of suspected Pine Martens have been logged in the county. A small, sparse population might survive on Herefordshire's wilder western fringes, according to conservationists.