UFO ‘sightings’ mapped – see the close encounters where you live

It has been an interesting time for UFO enthusiasts. Last year American fighter jets shot down an unexplained flying object – which was later identified as a Chinese balloon, suspected to be on a spying mission – as well as three other objects in or near American airspace.

Then whistle-blower Major David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer, set the internet on fire when he claimed the US was concealing a long-standing programme that retrieves and reverse-engineers unidentified flying objects.

The intrigue has continued into 2024, with Ukrainian troops recording a huge disc-shaped object over the battlefield of Donetsk, while closer to home a hiker came upon a mysterious monolith on a hilltop in Powys, which he initially assumed was “some sort of UFO”, but has since left some speculating it may have been planted by aliens.

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However, despite increasing speculation about alien visitors online and in the media, the skies above the UK have been relatively quiet in the last year. In its annual report, the research group UFO Identified documented 395 sightings in the UK in 2023 – a 20% drop from 497 sightings in 2022 and lower than in 2021 (413) and 2020 (484).

That adds up to 1,789 sightings in four years. Information was taken from social media, newspaper reports, and over 50 Freedom of Information requests, as well as from reports made directly to UFO spotter groups around the UK.

According to the report, people in the North West had the best chance of seeing a UFO last year, with 41 sightings across the region, followed by the South East (40) and then the South West (39).

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That is broadly similar to the location of sightings in 2022 and 2021. Over the four years UFO Identified has documented the phenomenon, the highest number of sightings have been seen in the South East (233), followed by the North West (218) and then the South West (193). The lowest number of sightings have been reported in Northern Ireland (30), and the North East of England (63).

You can see the UFO encounters documented where you live using in the last four years using our interactive map.

Sightings documented last year include:

• Around 40 orbs were seen moving in a “cross formation” over Greater Manchester, led by one very bright orb.

• Multiple orbs were also seen over Mildenhall in Suffolk, also led by one “abnormally bright” object. But these UFOs appeared to disrupt car radios.

• A “flying saucer illuminated by varying red glowing spheres” was seen over Worksop in Nottinghamshire

• A dark and silent “squashed triangle” was seen gliding over Point Clear in Essex

• Up to 15 bright lights pursued by two fighter jets and an Apache helicopter

While flying saucers and other unexplained phenomena were most likely to be spotted in the North West or the South East, the data shows that the best time to see a UFO last year was on a Monday evening between 9pm and 10pm.

The most common sighting was a “star-like” UFO, followed by an orb – with several different witnesses reporting clusters of orbs in the skies across different locations.

The vast majority of sightings were of far-off objects in the sky, but there were 27 “Close Encounters of the First Kind”, more than double the previous year. These are reports of UFOs seen up close, at a distance of no more than 500ft away.

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There were also two “Close Encounters of the Second Kind” which is when a UFO sighting appears to cause a physical effect, such as a car malfunction, a ground impression, or a reaction in animals

But there were no “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” – which is when an extra-terrestrial is seen piloting or on board a UFO.

Ash Ellis of UFO Identified said: “Overall, it’s disappointing to see such a big decrease in reports this year, especially after the bumper year of 2022. This time last year we were hoping that a reduction in the stigma surrounding the topic would lead to more reports being filed, but this clearly hasn’t been the case.

“Hopefully, as we and other groups around the country continue giving people space and a platform to talk about their experiences that will help more people come forward and be confident to stand up and tell their story.

“Despite the reduced number of reports, we continue to see the same trends across different datasets. Whether that’s the area in which sightings are being made, to the time of day, and the described shape of UFO’s, and so on, these have all been consistent over the past four years.

This, to me, tells us that there are areas which are more prone to seeing UFOs and we will be using this data to forecast areas of interest over the coming years.”