A dog walker curious and daring enough to take home a smelly lump of rock is on the path to becoming a much richer man.

Ken Wilman, whose dog discovered a chunk of rare whale vomit on Morecambe beach, was stunned to learn that the unimpressive rock could be worth up to £100,000.

He said: "So as I was walking along (the beach), she (the dog) was messing about with this, I got a bit close, I thought no, it's a big stone, why is she messing with a big stone?

Then when I picked it up I thought that's not a stone, then I smelled it.”

"When I got home, I put the internet on and Googled whale vomit, and up comes ambergris,” he continued.

Ambergris is used to make perfume and it is extremely rare.

Fragrance expert, Dominic De Vetta: "The reason why it becomes so valuable is that it starts off with this sticky, liquid, viscous substance, but then over time the waves, the sunshine beating down on the sea, the sea salt, these all combine to oxidise the sticky substance into a rock.”