A new study has shown the Red Rose County is a hot-spot for the unexplained, with some 23 sightings – from flashing coloured lights across fields near Tarleton to shimmering spheres seen hovering over Lancaster city centre.

The former head of a government project into "flying saucers" is even recommending Lancashire as the place to visit to spot a little green man.

Ufologist Nick Pope said: "While we currently have no explanation why certain places in the UK are alien hot spots, as this research reveals, there are areas where mysterious objects repeatedly witness.

"People who want to go alien-spotting could do a lot worse than head to Lancashire.

"If nothing else, it is great to see so many local people taking an interest in UFO activity and keeping an eye on the sky."

The expert, who investigated UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles, cattle mutilation and other strange phenomena during his time with the Ministry of Defence, has led the research on behalf of cable television firm, Virgin Media.

It shows Lancashire only just behind West Yorkshire with 34 sightings and Nottingham with 29 sightings since records began in 1961.

But, Robert Walsh, a senior lecturer in astrophysics and mathematics at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, said the "sightings" could be anything from meteorites to gases from explosions on the sun coming through the Earth's atmosphere, or even aircraft being tested in the area.

He said: "In some respects these things are 'alien' because they're not from this planet, but they are not spacecraft carrying little green men. We get naturally-occurring phenomena all the time, things like the Northern Lights, which could easily be mistaken for something else.

"People see things with special effects on Hollywood movies and then see something similar and immediately jump to a conclusion. Sadly, it is never what they think it is."

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