Unidentified flying objects moving through the Moray skies are continuing to baffle local residents, with sightings of airborne orange lights leaving witnesses wondering what on earth they have seen.

Numerous sightings of a strange orange glow over Elgin have been reported since just before Hallowe'en, with witnesses detailing a light in the distance that moves across the sky from left to right or right to left.

One man, who did not wish to be named, contacted 'The Northern Scot' after capturing his October 30 sighting on video on his mobile phone.

The Pinefield resident said he watched the light from his back window for five to 10 minutes, in a direction across the A96 road and above trees in the distance. He said it moved slowly from right to left, appeared to hover, and then moved quickly before disappearing.

The man said the same orange light - approximately the colour of a street light - then re-appeared on the right hand side of the sky, before following an identical path and disappearing.

The Pinefield man's account has since been supported by others.

Another Elgin resident said he captured a strange light on the camera on his mobile phone. Others have since said they have seen the orange light in a similar location as described by the Pinefield man.

An unnamed Elgin woman said she saw a glow in the sky at around 7.30pm on November 6.

"I was walking home after the firework display at Cooper Park and saw an orange-pink light in the sky travelling southwards over the town," she said.

"It was moving at speed in a straight line and there was no noise so it obviously wasn't a firework or aircraft.

"I suppose it could have been a satellite, but who knows?"

The most recent sighting has been by Sally McDonald, of Croft Road, New Elgin.

She said that at 5.45pm last Friday (November 19), she was driving on Oakfield Road towards Linkwood Road in Elgin when she looked upwards to see an orange light.

"At first I thought it was a firework shooting up, but on closer scrutiny I noticed it appeared to be navigating very well for a firework," she added.

"It went from left to right . . . it appeared to be low and there was absolutely no noise. I actually stopped my car and turned the engine off to listen."

The latest UFO sightings follow similar accounts across Moray.

On September 3, Forres couple Don and Pat MacArthur said they spotted a strange airborne light through their window.

They filmed a bright pink, diamond-like object in the sky. This shape disappeared, but they then saw a black object which appeared from roughly the same direction but was much higher up.

Further unexplained lights have also been spotted above Moray this year, according to the UK UFO Sightings website, with sightings in locations including Burghead and Kinloss.

Stan Barber, the chairman of Moray astronomy club Sigma, said that if a person is stationary and the object he or she sees in the sky is apparently moving, then it is "hard to explain it away as a celestial object".

Mr Barber said he would not rule out Chinese lanterns as being responsible for some of the sightings. When cloud is patchy and winds are blustery, he said the weather conditions can make one of these lanterns disappear at a fast rate.

Vice-chairman Pete Sherman said possible explanations for mysterious lights in the sky include light pollution from street lights, reflecting and lighting up low level cloud.

A bright light in the east/south-east direction may also be the planet Jupiter, he pointed out.

Spokesmen from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Kinloss said there has been little to suggest that activity from either of the bases has been responsible for what has been witnessed recently.