Wood you believe it? North Yorkshire's 'Banksy' artist leaves his mark. . . on trees

Locals want to track down elusive artist

Carvings are attracting scores of tourists to the area

Residents of a market town have been left stumped by these mysterious tree carvings thought to have been created an anonymous Banksy-style guerrilla artist.

The astounding carvings have transformed regular trees into a dragon, a kingfisher and a ghostly figure.

The local civic society in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, said it is bemused over who came up with the eye-catching intricate designs, which are between 10 and 20 feet high.

'Magnificent': This intricate carving of a kingfisher plucking a fish out of a river made an impression on locals

They said they wanted to thank the elusive artist for creating a new tourist attraction for the area, which now goes alongside the popular Mother Shipton's Cave.

The carvings are thought to have appeared about two months ago, but no-one has ever seen the artist leaving their creative imprint on the tree trunks.

Althea Farmer, chairwoman of the Knaresborough Civic Society, said the whole town had been talking about the strange appearance of the carvings.

She said: 'One of our members was walking down there and saw the carvings. They said one in particular - a diving kingfisher with a fish in its mouth - was absolutely marvellous.

Spooky: This ghostly figure appeared on one of the trees in Knaresborough. Locals say the intricate designs are bringing tourists to the area

North Yorkshire's answer to Banksy? No one has ever seen the elusive artist leaving their mark on the trees

'They were blown away by it. It must have taken a while to do them.

'No one has come forward and revealed who it was and it’s quite a mystery. It’s good publicity for the town as it is like having North Yorkshire’s answer to Banksy and it could be another tourist attraction.'

The civic society is currently trying to track down the artist and is urging them to get in touch in an attempt to solve the mystery.

Mrs Farmer, a former Lord Mayor of the town, said: 'We are very interested in finding out who it is but we quite like the fact that nobody knows as it gives it a mystery like the Banksy drawings.