Village waits for "aliens" to return

It’s been two years since the Earth Stars were last seen.

But still the believers come to St Bartholomew’s church yard seeking a sign.

The “aliens” are small white fungi that have just been confirmed as a species new to science.

And there’s evidence they have visited Herefordshire since the Ashperton find in 2013.

Early that year, Jo Weightman, recorder for the Herefordshire Fungus Survey Group, was referred to St Bartholomew’s church yard by the Herefordshire Biological Records Centre.

There, churchwarden Wendy Myles was intrigued by the “white berries” she saw growing beneath a yew tree.

“I bent down to investigate and found, to my amazement, that they were not berries but small white fungi – the likes of which I had never seen,” said Wendy.

Her Field Guide to Fungi confirmed Earth Stars.

Jo tentatively ascribed the find to a fairly common British species but “niggling doubts” remained.

A year later, tidying up her study she came across her Ashperton samples, checked the spores and realised she held a “mystery” in her hands.

The specimen was sent off to experts at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, but Jo didn’t see further evidence of the Earth Stars on going back to Ashperton.

Wendy and her fungi-hunting friends haven’t seen them since either - and not for want for looking.

“They seem very fickle, perhaps they only show up every few years,” said Wendy.

Jo has, however, subsequently recorded the fungi at  Cusop, under a yew tree in St Mary’s churchyard, and just over the Shropshire border at Ashford Carbonel.

Again, samples were sent off to Kew as matching no species within the range of possibles.

Kew’s investigations involved wider consultation and a trawl through all British - and then the latest European - literature on the subject.

But nothing was found to fit the material.

The investigation then moved to Kew’s Herbarium which houses over seven million specimens as a global centre for research into plant biodiversity.

There, boxes holding possible species matches were carefully checked.

Other examples of  the mystery fungi were found from Hampshire, Powys and Norfolk all with a note to say identification was provisional.

The consensus of opinion was that the Earth Star was new to science and would have to be formally described,” said Jo.

“This is not something that can be dashed off and there is always a backlog of new species awaiting formal description,” she said.

The required patience paid off.

In February this year, a formal description of the new species was published after much comparative analysis.

The Earth Star has been named Geastrum britannicum in recognition of the fact that, to date, it has not been found outside the British Isles.