A RARE species of fungi rediscovered by a schoolgirl in 1996 has appeared once again.

Worcestershire Fungus Group has carried out regular checks on the site of the Berkeley's Earth Star (Geastrum berkleyii) in Cradley since its first appearance after many years when it was believed to be extinct.

Last year there was no sign of it but that has changed this year.

"I am pleased to report that I have recently found two new specimens of this lovely little species," said enthusiast Sheila Whipp.

Sheila's daughter Katie made the breakthrough discovery in 1996, when she was ten, after joining a fungus foray near the family home.

It carries the name Berkeley after the Rev. Miles Joseph Berkeley, who made the last previous recorded sighting in Norfolk in 1925. The Earth Star in the title comes from the American Indian belief that the star shape fungus had fallen from space.

Katie's find was later verified by officials at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, which holds 20,000 specimens collected by Rev Berkeley before his death in the 1870s.

Mrs Whipp's interest in the topic continues, on Wednesday she began a Fungi for Beginners course at Malvern Hills College.