News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A beachcomber who thought he had found a huge lump of ambergris - an expensive perfume additive which comes from whale vomit - has been told his find is worthless.

Andrew Hughes came across the unusual yellow and black lump while searching for fishing bait on the Anglesey coastline in North Wales earlier this month.

He was convinced it was ambergris - a rare substance expelled by whales from their gut and which he claimed could be worth tens of thousands of US dollars a kilo.

It was originally prized by perfumiers because, although it smells horrible at first, it acquires a sweet, earthy scent as it ages.

But now Dr Vera Thoss, an expert at Bangor University, has told Mr Hughes that what he found was "basically a lump of rubber".

Although unable to say exactly what the substance was, Dr Thoss said it was probably a latex or runny rubber, which showed characteristics of being burned - possibly on a ship which caught fire.

Mr Hughes, who found the substance while looking for fishing bait with a friend at Porth Dafarch, near Trearddur Bay, earlier this month is not overly disappointed.

He laughed: "We weren't getting our hopes too high anyway because we're down to earth."

Internet reports at the time of the find claimed it was an essential perfume additive but experts say perfumiers now prefer to use synthetic substances for their products instead.