As his 15-year-old daughter, Kelsea, son Jonathan, and wife Kelly watched the drama unfold, Mr Freke dashed inside to grab his camera.

The resulting image was a small orange blob on a black background with no other features visible.

Mr Freke added: “I’m sure there is a way of calculating how big the aircraft was by working out the scale on the photo.

“There must be an explanation for this. Maybe someone out there knows what they were.”