Hungerford in midst of UFO flap

Daylight sighting 'like a ballbearing' in the sky

THERE’S something strange happening in the skies over Hungerford.

Our report in the Hungerford edition of the Newbury Weekly News last week about an unidentified aerial phenomenon over the town has prompted a flurry of calls and emails.

Reader Vanessa Cloete snapped this image, and many more like it, of an object in the night sky above her home in the Charnham Park vicinity.

Now Clare Lumsden, who lives in Hungerford, has reported seeing what seems to be the same thing.

She said: “It’s certainly very unusual – it’s there so often.”

Ms Lumsden also reported seeing the object flash blue and green and seem to change shape.

Pamela Mortimer said she and her husband have been watching a mysterious, blue and green flashing, unidentified object over the Hungerford area from their home in Ashford Hill for several weeks.

She said: “It’s very eerie. My husband got the binoculars out and said there were flashing lights round the base of it.

“It keeps changing colour and sometimes just vanishes. At other times it moves across the sky. We just want to know what it is because it looks so strange.”

Chris Turner of Ashmore Green said: “I also witnessed a bright green, non-flashing light fly over our house one evening last week, quite low, around 11:45pm, and I for one was totally baffled by it.

“I’ve lived on RAF bases all over the world and know my aircraft, aircraft sounds and navigation lights and so on – but this just didn’t make any sense.”

He added: “The light was very bright green... I couldn’t see any civil red or white flashing light to indicate it was a civilian plane as it flew across and whatever it was, it was totally silent.

“When I read your article I had to tell you what I saw.

“I’m so happy to establish I’m not the only who has seen this event.”

Mark Ash, who lives in Newbury, also reported seeing the phenomenon in the direction of Hungerford.

But his experience was different – because it was a daytime sighting.

He said: “I saw it on Sunday, June 7, about 6pm.

“I was at a friend’s house when we noticed what looked like a ballbearing hanging in the sky. It was metallic and silvery and we just couldn’t work out what it was.

“It was completely round and just stayed there. It wasn’t a balloon, that’s for sure.

“We watched it, amazed, for ages and then it suddenly just vanished.”

Irene Willis of Newbury also reported seeing mysterious lights.

Ufologist Roy Hale, who runs a national UFO reporting website, advised sky watchers what to look out for when making a report.

He said: “Keep a diary of the times it appears and how long before it starts to change; is there any sound from the object? Is there any unusual reaction from animals and do other airborne objects, such as helicopters, approach it?

“Witnesses could also call the local police and report it to them and they may send out a squad car to view the object.

“This report will then have to be submitted to Whitehall or West Drayton by the police as a UFO sighting occurring within UK airspace.”

HAVE you seen the object? Contact the Hungerford edition of the Newbury Weekly News by emailing john.garvey@newburynews.co. uk or telephoning (01635) 564 528.