A RARE type of pink fungus has been discovered on a guided walk at a nature reserve.

A "clump" of pink waxcaps was stumbled upon by a member of the public on a guided walk earlier this month at the Waun Las National Nature Reserve on the fringes of the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

The walk also discovered a new species of waxcap for the site called a Hygrocybe flavipes, or yellow foot.

Bruce Langridge, an interpretation officer at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, described the pink waxcaps as "internationally rare."

"Britain has half of the world's population of these fungi and Wales has a large proportion of them," said Mr Langridge.

"It is not 'rare rare' but it is not a very common find. It is a really striking, beautiful mushroom and really distinctive from anything else.

"There are not many places you will find it. Where the walk is there is a particular type of mushroom called a waxcap and these mushrooms can't tolerate any chemicals in the soil or disturbance which is why, with modern farming, they have become rarer."

He added: "I was taking the guided walk when the pink waxcaps were found. We had about 25 members on the walk and one of them found it.

"What was distinctive about it was that there was a clump of six or seven together and that is unusual. We've been looking for these type of waxcaps and we have never seen so many."

The next guided walk at the nature reserve takes place on October 22 at 2pm.

But Mr Langridge said: "We can't guarantee that they will still be there because fungi come and go."