Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

IT’S pot luck it has taken root but a cannabis plant has been discovered growing wild at a popular beauty spot.

The amazing find was made by a horse rider who couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

The two-foot high plant was discovered on a sandbank at the mouth of the River Doon, Ayr.

It has been growing all season, boosted by nutrition from seaweed and weeks of dry, hot weather.

Experts have described the find as “very rare indeed” and police say they have never come across anything like it in the area.

The horsewoman said: “I thought I was seeing things and took a photograph.

“Everyone I showed it to knew what it was straight away – it was unmistakable. It must be a very plucky bush indeed because it is the only one there.”

The precise position of the potent weed was given to police so it could be destroyed.

Max Coleman, of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, said: “This is not common at all, especially such a mature bush. The seeds can be in bird feed mixes and get out into the environment.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

“They could equally be from the drug form of the crop which somebody had dropped – especially likely if you can smell the plant.

“It would have germinated early in the season and grown all year undisturbed.

“It seems to be getting nutrition from the decomposing seaweed.

“The plant does not want a cold and damp spot, it wants heat and will have been well-baked by the sun on a south-facing aspect over the great summer we have had. There might be others out there.”

A police spokesman said only one previous instance of a drugs-strain cannabis plant had been recorded.

He said: “That was in Campbeltown in a spot which benefited from the Gulf Stream.

“The plant will be taken away for analysis.”