Film emerges of 'baffling' UFO flight above resort

Video footage emerged today of "cylinder-shaped object" that stunned holidaymakers as it hovered over the coast above a seaside resort.

The UFO was seen floating above a caravan park at Brean, near Burnham-On-Sea in Somerset last summer.

A two-minute video clip taken by an onlooker shows the cigar-shaped craft moving high above telegraph poles and the stationary vans.

The shaky film, shot at a lunchtime and in clear blue skies last July, is proving a hit on YouTube.

The video was taken at the height of the tourist season and a large crowd stopped to watch the phenomenon move in the air for 10 minutes.

It appears to be made of metal and has no visible attachments that could be kite-strings.

Avon and Somerset police said today they received no reports of UFOs in July. The previous month they did deal with a hoax call claiming that objects were floating in the sky above Cheddar Gorge, which is 15 miles from Brean.

A leading UFO research group warned it could be a kite or even a new aircraft being secretly tested.

UFO expert Malcolm Robinson, who has studied the subject for over 30 years, said the footage was "fantastic and baffling".

But Mr Robinson, who runs the respected Strange Phenomena Investigations group, said 95 per cent of sightings could be explained away after some investigation.

He said today: "The footage is very, very unusual, but we must bear in mind that the majority of reports do have natural identifiable solutions.

"This case does not conform to the normal sighting pattern, in that they are usually spherical or globes of light. This shape has been seen before however.

"It could perhaps be a kite or canopy of some kind. We would want to speak to all witness, the police and check with the airports. That said, it is a fantastic and baffling piece of footage."

Mr Robinson believes about 3% of sightings are so called "black budget technology" - aircraft being covertly tested.

Mark Newman, a spokesman for Burnham-on-Sea's rescue boat service, said: "There are already a range of theories on what the object might have been, with some believing it was a kite or balloon, while users on video sharing website YouTube claim the object looks like a 'high altitude observation balloon payload.'

"Another says it looks like a metallic shape, higher than a plane, making it pretty big'."

The footage and a still picture can also be viewed at http://www.burnham-on-sea.com.

It is not the first time that unexplained objects have caused hysteria in the skies near Burnham.

Coastguards were called out last June to search the coastline after sightings of a parachute and canister, which were never found.