Local residents in Wellington and Nynehead have reported a series of reoccurring strange lights in the night sky.

Originally reported on social media by Hannah Fleet, many others soon joined in who had also seen the strange phenomenon.

Hannah said: “We are baffled by what looks like lightning in the sky over the Black down hills? We live in Nynehead and our house looks out over the hills and we see it every night when it’s dark. It happens about every minute or so and lights up the sky. I was just wondering if anyone has ever noticed it or knows what it could be?”

Many on the social media post tried to give possible explanations, the most popular being sheet lightening. This time of year sheet lightning is very common on the hills.

Sheet Lightning is a term used to describe clouds illuminated by a lightning discharge inside of the cloud. Sarah Diggs another commenter said: “I live in Devon but I have a panoramic view from Sidmouth Gap to the Wellington Monument of the Blackdowns and often see this. It is often lightning that is many miles away and given this hot weather that seems to be the most plausible explanation at the moment.”

Although it seems as though the logical explanation is sheet lightning there is also the possibility of a UFO sighting. Since 1997 the government have slowly been releasing classified UFO sightings. Many of them are now public documents that can be viewed online.