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Jonathan Scott<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA walker spotted a very rare ice formation known as hair ice or frost beard.<\/p>\n Rev. Jonny Scott, from Godalming, was with his wife on Friday in the Devil’s Punch Bowl in the Surrey Hills when he spotted the phenomenon. <\/p>\n The ice only forms on wood from the broadleaf tree in below zero temperatures at latitudes between 45\u00b0N and 55\u00b0N, according to the Met Office.<\/p>\n Rev Scott said: “Nature never ceases to amaze me.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The reverend said he spotted what he thought at first was “a twig that looked to be wrapped in cotton wool” or “perhaps a strange fungus”.<\/p>\n He said: “Carefully picking it up I could see that it was a form of ice I had never witnessed before, and was nowhere else around in the woods.”<\/p>\n But it wasn’t until he got back to the National Trust car park and searched online that he realised quite how rare the phenomenon is. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although first reported in 1918, the exact cause of hair ice was only determined in 2015.<\/p>\n Scientists Hofmann, M\u00e4tzler and Preuss discovered the 0.01mm strands of ice grow thanks to a specific fungus called Exidiopsis effusa<\/i>, said the Met Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
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Jonathan Scott<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n