Rare puff ball back on Earth

A 10-year-old girl has amazed mushroom experts by finding a puff ball believed to be extinct in Britain for more than 70 years.

Berkeley's Earth Star - named after the Rev Miles Joseph Berkeley, the Victorian parish priest credited as being the founding father of British mycology - was discovered by Katie Whipp in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Dr David Pegler, head of mycology at Kew Gardens in Richmond, Surrey, which houses 20,000 specimens amassed by Rev Berkeley, said: "It's the best and most surprising find this year." Experts believe the recent hot summers may explain why the fungus has reappeared.