Strange orange lights in the sky have been reported off Ravenglass - and the North West UFO Research is investigating.

The unexplained lights were seen offshore from Ravenglass on Saturday night (Jan 24) at around 7pm. A man "who has extensive knowledge of the area'' said it wasn't flares and noted there was no noise.

Apparently there were two lights together, then one veered off to the north. He kept watching this light which then dipped down to sea level then up again, before heading off at speed northwards.

North West UFO Research, which has a dedicated UFO website and contact point set up by Southport author, Pat Regan, says a report was submitted by an Ainsdale (Southport) coastguard officer, Paul Harrison, following an account from a colleague in Cumbria. It told of the orange lights, described as being similar to street lights, in the sky off Ravenglass. There were no further lights, eg navigational and they were deemed from "an unknown source''.

There was a second report of a bright fire ball spotted at 9.27am the previous day (Friday January 23) by a member of the public from the Kew estate at Southport and reported to the Coastguard Centre at Crosby, Merseyside.

Apparently this person had seen the fire ball while looking in the direction of Ormskirk. It was heading his way at a 45-degree angle. The witness, who did not wish to be named, was said to be a professional person of good standing.

Pat featured in the international press in summer 2008 after inadvertently photographing a UFO during a Lancashire twister storm. Subsequent to this intriguing event Pat was interviewed by the UFO Hunters TV group from America.

Pat Regan says 99 per cent of sightings may be explained away. "It is the other one per cent that we are chiefly interested in."