A MYSTERY mushroom has been discovered in a wildlife refuge in the shadow of the Malvern Hills.

The unidentified fungus was found at St Wulstan's nature reserve last Sunday by the Rev Edward Cox, a keen amateur naturalist.

He said the toadstool was about 15cm tall, with a slightly bell-shaped cap and an unusual plum colour.

Mr Cox and his companions could not identify the specimen by sight, so they picked it and took it home, where a trawl through books proved equally fruitless.

They called John Meiklejohn, a fellow amateur naturalist who lives in Defford and has some knowledge of fungi.

Mr Meiklejohn said identification of the mushroom had so far eluded him as well.

He said: "If I don't identify it, I might have to send it to the mycological department at Royal Kew Gardens for the real experts to take a look at it. I would have to dry it so it would survive the journey."

Mr Cox, who lives in Lucerne Avenue, Malvern, has a history of finding rare species of wildlife.

In 1999, the Malvern Gazette reported how he had found a rare spider, never before seen in the county, in his wife's potting shed.

Then, just a month later, he found an unusual type of ladybird on a rose bush in his garden.