This incredible picture captured the strange sighting of more than 20 UFOs buzzing over awestruck Britain.

Stunned families watched as the lights in the sky lined up in a flying formation before disappearing upwards into space.

The close-encounter snap was taken by quick-thinking engineer Paul Slight on his mobile phone at about 10.30pm on Sunday.

He was coming home from a day out cycling with friends in Lincoln when they spotted the lights in the sky.

The eerie extra-terrestrial crafts were hovering in the night sky over the town moving in different directions before eventually shooting straight up into the atmosphere.

Mystery

In a series of stunning images taken over five minutes, Paul, from Lincoln, captured the objects together and even flying in an apparent formation.

Paul, 54, said: "There were 26 of them at first, dodging and darting in between each other like they were playing a game.

"After that, seven more arrived from the right hand side and weaved through the crowd of lights like strange kinds of aircraft.

"After five minutes of moving around, the flickering yellow objects hung in the air for a second then shot off into the sky and disappeared.

"I have no idea what they were - I'm not usually a believer but what I saw was really weird.

"I have flown planes and helicopters before and I know these were not them, helicopters couldn't line up like that or move that fast."

Former air hostess Claire Jackson, also from Lincoln, saw the same strange yellow objects circling in the sky that night.

Claire, 40, said: "I counted around 20 lights in the sky, they seemed to be moving around each other.

"They were definitely not aircraft or fireworks, they moved differently, it was really strange."

Phil Hoyle, from UK-based UFO Investigation Unit, said the way the UFOs had moved indicated a form of intelligence.

He said: "If these objects were circling one another you would have to rule out that they were fireworks.

"If they were dodging and darting around each other it would indicate intelligent movement."

Ruth Veron, spokesperson for nearby RAF Cranwell, said she did not know what the phenomena could be.

She said: "RAF Cranwell is closed over the weekend so it could not have been any aircraft from this base.

"I do not have any idea what the lights could be, we did not have any aircraft flying that night."