A STRANGE ice-covered rock which is thought to have fallen from the sky into a field near Broadway is to be examined by space experts in an effort to determine whether it is a meteorite.

Scientists at the National Space Research Centre at the University of Leicester have already examined Journal photographs of the find.

But further investigation will be required before a conclusion is reached about the origins of the rock.

The find was made by Evesham mums Lynn Ratcliffe and Pam Metcalfe who were out walking along the Cotswold Way near Fish Hill on Monday afternoon.

Lynn, of Greenhill Park Road, said: "We suddenly saw this huge lump of ice sitting all on its own in the middle of the field. There was nothing similar anywhere around and nothing to show where it had come from.

"When we saw the unusual rock on the top of what appears to be a large block of ice, we thought it looked strange. It certainly didn't look anything like Cotswold stone, which is what you would expect to find out there."

Despite a rapidly-advancing snow storm, the friends retrieved the mystery object and took it to Lynn's home where they hoped to defrost it.

Scientist Derek Pullan, an expert on space debris, said he had examined the photographs taken by the Journal.

"It is impossible to say from the pictures what it is," he said. "However, if it is a meteorite there will be a high metal count in the rock.

"If, after the ice has been melted, it still weighs more than you would expect for its size, then the possibility that it has come from outer space cannot be discounted.

"We would need to see close-up photographs of it without the ice or better still, to put the sample under a microscope and examine it in greater detail."