A former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator described unusual footage of a Bushey sighting as “very interesting”.

Nick Pope, who worked for the MoD between 1991 and 1994, is recognised as a leading authority on UFOs and continues to investigate and comment on unusual sightings.

After viewing the video taken in Pasture Close, Bushey, on Wednesday, Mr Pope said he could not be sure what the object was, but that it probably had a logical explanation.

He said: “We are getting more and more sightings of UFOs. I think this is partly down to science fiction movies and people becoming more open to the possibility we are not alone.

“When I was running the government UFO project we got about two or three hundred sightings a year. Now people have more access to technology to record what they see, we are getting more and more good footage of UFOs.”

Mr Pope said the object in the video, taken by Jackie Noise, was probably a Chinese lantern but could not rule out the possibility of extra-terrestrial life visiting Earth.

“There is a lot of strange stuff being seen. Is there life out there? Definitely. Is there life visiting us? I'm not so sure. It is possible and throughout my career I have seen evidence, but no proof.”