UFO Reports from the UK 

UFOs over Cheshire

[ Updated: 18/05/2008 ]

1 May 2008 - M56, near Cheadle

"At 2335hrs, I was driving from Cheadle to Northwich, Cheshire and on the M56 motorway travelling in a southwesterly direction a couple of miles from junction 9. 

I looked up into the starry night and saw a fast moving what seemed to be like a star. It was travelling in a northwesterly direction away to my right, say towards Liverpool. After a few seconds it seemed to break up like that of a firework rocket, which it was certainly not, and the colour of the sparks/flames were a vivid bright green.

Now there were no cars behind me and none in front, was I the only one to see it? Was it a meteorite burning out I wonder? I did contact Jodrell Bank but had no reply.

I would be interested to hear of anyone else that saw it."

While we have yet to learn of other reports, this was possibly a sighting of a meteor breaking up.

9 August 2007 - Northwich

"I was watching the stars from my home at around 11:30 when I witnessed two unexplained lights. One light was moving speedily across the sky with another zigzagging and flying around the other as if chasing it.

The second light then disappeared and the other continued moving speedily across the skyline almost buzzing in a juddery type motion making sharp movements. It then did a sharp backwards z movement and disappeared for about a minute before reappearing travelling in the opposite direction making more sharp juddery movements before it disappeared in roughly the same position as the first light had disappeared previously. It appeared at times to have lights spinning around it. It was hard to distinguish as it was so high up and if stationary you would have mistaken it for a star.

I have never seen anything like this before and so I am wondering whether there have been any other reports or there could be a logical explanation?"

20 May 2007 - Cheshire

"At 10.30pm, I was with my girlfriend outside my house in Hollingworth when we both saw and object in the sky that we can only describe as a ball of fire.

As we tracked it through the sky, we could actually see the flames coming off this object which didn't diminish or get any bigger. At first we thought it was an aircraft in trouble as it was on a similar flight path as the planes which come over on their way into Manchester airport but this was not only silent, it was just a ball of fire and looked relatively low in the sky and was about the size of a small car.

I then thought it was probably a balloon or some burning paper from a bonfire that had taken to the air but as mentioned before, it didn't burn out and it seemed bigger than a piece of rubbish on fire.

The 'light' kept a straight course and actually gained altitude as we watched it for 7 minutes or so we could see it. As it got higher and further away, it faded as it reached cloud level until the cloud eventually obscured our view.

The direction of the light was roughly in the direction of Stockport/Macclesfield slightly off course from which direction the planes take when coming in to land at Manchester. I was just wondering if there had been any other reports of this sighting and if indeed any authority has commented on this or explained its origin? It could have possibly been a weather balloon that had caught fire but it was on fire far too long and would've burnt out pretty quickly. This 'ball of fire' remained the same size and didn't get any dimmer or brighter for the 7 minutes we watched it."

2 May 2007 - Stockport

At 9.30-10 30 in a clear sky "It was yellow/red in colour flashing on and off, I would say about the size of your thumb no clear outline; it moved across the sky in a line stopped for about 2/3mins then moved away.

[It] returned about 30 mins later stayed in the sky for about 10/15 mins, then moved off again this was seen by about 8 other people at the same time. It was not a plane as we see planes every few mins as the fight path comes over our house to Manchester airport. It made no sound. At first I thought it was a plane engine on fire until it stopped and was flashing on and off."

17 April 2007 - Cheshire

"At around 22.55 hours I spotted an intense white light in the night sky, occasionally spikes of white light emitted from it as did intermittent neon green spikes of light; it stayed in one spot for around 7 minutes or so. I happen to own a telescope, and took it into the garden to view this UFO, the lenses are quite cheap but I could see through the 'scope a white sphere which had no particular evidence of any other colours.

That's all the info I can give you, this is the first time I've witnessed anything like this. I'm hoping that I wasn't alone in what I have witnessed, please let me know if this was sighted by others."

20 February 2005 - Sandbach

"I saw a small flash to my left in the sky, it seemed to be bullet shaped, it had a trail of bright green. It was only seen for a couple of seconds.S  emed to travel faster than a plane, horizontal flight path. No vapour trail not seen anything like it before. I was facing west, object travelled south to west. Sky blue, little cloud, object would have been a few thousand feet up. I was looking over house/treetops not straight up."

This sighting was one of several that morning, it was later confirmed as a bolide skimming the atmosphere.

24 August 2003 – Stockport

Another report from “RF”:

For years, I have seen nothing and then I see 2 sightings in the same month! A UFO flap?

Anyway, the latest sighting was about 1:50pm on Sunday. I was sat with my wife in the "Lookers" car showroom in Stockport. (Yes, the same location as last time, more or less). We were in the process of negotiation with the sales executive, trying to agree a better deal on a new car. As the salesman went to see his manager to see "what he can do", my wife and I were sat in the waiting area just glancing around.

During the wait, I looked towards to sky, through the large plate glass windows and something caught my attention. It was pretty much just a small blackish dot, really, between clouds. I didn't think much of it, but still watched it's movement simply because I have been vigilantly watching things in the sky since my last sighting.

The object was quite a distance away in the direction of Trafford Park/Stretford, although I can't really say how far or large it was. The weather was very similar to the day of my previous sighting. Bright, sunny with white, fluffy billowing clouds dotted around, but with large areas of blue sky. The object was about 35 degrees up from the horizon.

Now, it's the movement of the object that grabbed me. The object, which I assumed to be round\sphere shaped (but wasn't sure, due to the distance) moved laterally to the left at the kind of speed you would expect a passenger jet to move. Then, almost in an instant, it reversed direction and headed right. This really threw me because I can't imagine how something could change direction so fast.

I continued to watch the object (still in silence at this point) until it began to change its direction, going up, then down, then diagonal. It then seemed to pop into a cloud and back out again. This is when I decided to point it out to my wife. It took her about 15 seconds to train her eye on what I was trying to point out. This is because visibility seemed to have diminished as the object was no longer between clouds, but against (or partly inside) a cloud. We then watched the object do some less interesting manoeuvres for about another 20 seconds until it went into the cloud and we lost sight of it. I would say the whole sighting for me only lasted between 90 and 120 seconds.

I know this is not exactly a fantastic sighting, but I still think it's worth mentioning. Even if it's just to catalogue against any other sightings anyone else may report for the day. Hopefully, somebody closer to the object might make a report?

1 August 2003 - Cheadle & Stockport

A curious sighting relayed to us by the witness, “RF”: 

“I am just writing to report a sighting by my wife and I today at about 5.15pm. I am reporting in the hope that somebody else also witnessed this sighting. The sky was bright and sunny, with patchy clouds.

My wife had just picked me up from work in Cheadle, Cheshire and we then headed down towards Stockport in the car. After a couple of minutes, my wife spotted something unusual in the sky. I also looked and could see a rod shape in the sky. The rod was initially looking a matte pencil-lead colour and was about 30 to 40 degrees up at quite a distance. After a couple of minutes, it got closer and I assumed it was about the size of a passenger jet.

The motion of the rod was unusual and didn't seem to have any normal pattern. It just hovered to and fro at a steady pace, changing direction at times and sometimes just hovering, but re-orienting on the spot. At one point, the object tilted and turned, which created a bright reflective glint to pass over it as it reflect the sun. This made the object's normally matte looking surface appear more metallic. My wife and I were engrossed and knew this was not any conventional craft. At it's closest (still probably a mile or two away) we could see no makings, protrusions or trails. The object simply looked like a rod in the sky. We tried to follow the object, heading into Stockport, but we lost it as we approached the main roundabout in Stockport (near the big Blue Pyramid building (Co-Operative)).

We did some frantic searching until we spotted the object again. This time the object seemed to have ascended and was further away, heading in the direction of Longdendale\Glossop. The object seemed to be going above cloud level, but remained clear of the clouds that were dotted around for a few minutes. We tried to track the object further, by heading down the M60 (towards Glossop) but the object just got away too far and high. We lost it after about 10 to 15 minutes of trying to track it.

This is by far the most exciting thing I've seen and really got my wife and I fired up. Some other people MUST have seen this object too.”

 RF came back to us with an update, which confirms that others did see the object:

"The next time I returned to work, I found out that several people at work also saw the object from the company car park. This was quite encouraging, although I don't think they had as close a view as my wife and I. The general opinion is that it was "a bit strange", but then the attitude seemed to be that they drew a line and wanted to move on and put it behind them. It seems that people don't really want to contemplate anything other than the conventional.

The obvious conclusion for people who DIDN'T witness the object, is that it was "just a cylindrical balloon or something". I can understand a statement like that, but as a witness, know that is not a valid explanation. 

This was a solid object and looked big and heavy. The object didn't manoeuvre like something that was drifting about in the wind. The object would hang in one spot at times, in different orientations. Sometimes upright, sometimes horizontal etc... sometimes slowly re-orienting on the spot. When the object was moving, it moved at a steady pace. It would move east, then west, then south etc Initially, the object seemed to remain at a constant altitude, but towards the end of the sighting, the object seemed to rise at a steady pace, heading towards Longdendale\Glossop. (South Westerly direction from Cheadle?) 

At it's closest, the object looked very solid and rigid. The most awe inspiring part of the sighting was as it tilted and the sun's sheen moved across it's length. I imagine the object was just above the back end of Stockport at this point, probably above the M60. Incidentally, I wondered if whatever it was observing (I assume the object was observing something), could have been the blue pyramid (Co-operative Building) next to Stockport roundabout. A bit of a wild guess, I know, but it was just something that fleeted through my mind at the time. 

All I know is, that, in my gut, I felt this was something very strange and "other-worldly". Maybe it could be some secret military test craft? I don't know. I would just be VERY surprised if we have the technology to keep something like that in the sky, without any visible means of propulsion or lift. If we do have that kind of technology, why are we sending up Space Shuttles on a glorified MISSILE?  

Since the sighting, I have searched the internet for similar sightings. I have come across several that are remarkably similar. Sightings I would probably disregard in the past. I probably still will, even after my own sighting. There's something in us all that can't quite believe someone else’s account. We only believe what we see ourselves. Silly isn't it?” 

30 March 2003 - Stockport

An excellently-observed sighting/report, by "PM"

"This happened today some 20 minutes ago. 

This evening at approximately 21.20 I have witnessed unusual lights passing over my house and garden travelling west to east. The object (or objects) were groups of lights in a shallow triangular formation moving. Two pale amber lights at the lead point and a strip of three lights at each of the other corners forming a delta shape. Within the groups of two or three lights, the individual lightlights were all line astern - pointing in the direction it was moving.

 We had just finished our evening meal and I went into the garden to have a cigar and to sit back in a garden chair and gaze at the stars trying to remember the various formations I knew - the plough etc. It's early Spring and it has been unusually warm and sunny for the last couple of weeks. It has been a clear day and the night sky was virtually cloudless - stars clearly visible and plenty of aircraft activity at high altitude all with typically flashing lights making them unquestionably normal aircraft. I could also hear them. I even spotted what I assume were satellites - small even pinpoints of light moving at high altitude with no sound.

 Shortly after sitting down I saw a bright even light go very fast, soundlessly and steadily to the east it must have been high because it took so long to disappear - I thought it may be a satellite but it was as bright as the brightest star. Some fifteen minutes later I was stunned to see what came overhead from behind me. It was either a large shallow triangular shaped object or three small groups of objects. The whole sighting lasted only 5 - 10 seconds and though in retrospect I am sure I could see stars between the lights the geometry and the fact that they were moving in perfect formation and speed gave the impression of a single object.

 The objects were pale amber lights (and might have been bright surfaces reflecting the town's sodium lights or they were low intensity light sources). The shape was moving quickly and very smoothly with the leading point of the triangle showing two lights and the two other outer points of the triangle each with three lights each in tight groups, line astern. If not a single object then two groups of three wide apart following the lead pair. The speed and perspective I gained as it passed over and eventually disappeared over other houses gave me a feeling it was much larger than any aircraft I have seen and was completely silent. No sound at all. Even a hang-glider would have made some wind noise but this made no sound at all. I got the impression it was just a two or three hundred feet above the houses.

 All of the lights moved in unison and stayed an even (but low) intensity - no flickering or flashing. The speed was steady and rapid. 

We are close to the flightpath of Manchester Airport which is approximately five to six miles away. We are used to seeing low flying aircraft - this was completely different. 

I am practical, [with a] good analytical mind and I usually manage to find a good scientific explanation for most things but this has stunned me.

 Is it possible to let me know if anyone else saw this tonight?"

I think you will agree this is an excellent observation. So far we have seen of no corroborative reports from that area for that night. It is hoped that our colleagues at MARA may be able to solve/explain aspects of this sighting.

Do you have a sighting or report?

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You can email us on: reports@apra.org.uk

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