The MoD official files keep a record of UFO sightings to check on unauthorised military activity and are investigated by air defence experts.

The records suggest parts of Northamptonshire could be a hotspot for UFO reports with four sightings recorded in the county last year in the Kettering and Rothwell area and Cold Ashby.

The description of the reported UFO on March 7 at Cold Ashby referred to "joined lights suddenly moving independently and erratically."

Lenny Archer, 48, from Ecton Brook, also saw bright orange lights in February and said the sight put doubts in his mind over extra-terrestrials.

Mr Archer, a landscape gardener, said: "I was surprised to see it because first of all we saw the one orange light and then we saw several more coming behind it in 20 to 30 second intervals that shot up and then disappeared.

"It could have been army training but the lights were an orange colour.

"I've seen nothing since and I'd seen a few things before but put them down to shooting stars."

Since 1998, there have been 27 reported sightings in Northamptonshire.

An MoD statement said: "Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, no further work is undertaken to identify the nature of each sighting reported."