A SEARCH has been launched to find Ratty - in the middle of a northern town.

The furry favourite who, in Wind in the Willows, believed there was nothing like messing about on the river, could be bucking the national trend in Middlesbrough.

An endangered and protected species, the water vole is thought to be thriving on the banks of the town's network of becks. A survey two years ago showed that Middlesbrough had the highest water vole population in the area, with all of the town's six main becks boasting a colony.

Numbers have declined rapidly in recent years because of loss of habitat, land drainage for development and persecution by man and mink.

Arthur West and Jonathan Pounder, two seasonal assistants with Middlesbrough Borough Council's leisure and arts section, are carrying out a survey to estimate the population.

The information will form part of the council's conservation plan for beck management and will be passed on to the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, which will use it to collate national survey information.

Tansee Cartwright, community action officer for the council, said: "The water vole is often mistaken for a rat - particularly because of the nickname Ratty given to this shy creature in Kenneth Grahame's classic book, The Wind in the Willows.

"They are often misidentified and persecuted."