IS it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a UFO in the skies above East Lancashire.

This photo shows a strange white glowing object hovering over Blackburn as reported UFO sightings are spreading across the world.

And a recent sighting of a classic disc-shaped object over Barnoldswick has encouraged more eyewitnesses to come forward with their close encounters.

Accrington resident Mike Ashworth reported a sighting of a glowing object with flashing lights to website UK UFO.

He said that on December 13 he had been something in the sky above the town.

He said: “My family and I were getting out of our car and going into our house when I noticed something moving above me.

“I shouted to everyone ‘look at that’. It was a half spherical object that was bright lime green in colour with loads of red pulsating lights underneath it.

“Size in the sky was approximately the size of a golf ball when held at arm’s length.

“It took about 12 seconds to go from over head, to disappearing over Longridge Fell some 15 miles in a north-westerly direction.

“It made no noise and was travelling far faster that the commercial aircraft that fly over Accrington daily.”

Other eyewitnesses took to Twitter to describe their sightings.

Debbie @dollydebz tweeted: “I will swear to my dying day that I saw one in Mill Hill about seven years ago. I am convinced. It was so low, just feet above St George’s church. And then it just moved and vanished.”

And @Bloddys_world, who took a photo of a UFO last summer, said: “I’m convinced there’s something. In the late 70s, lots of people in Blackburn were woken by a bright cigar-shaped light that floated across town following the railway line. It affected electricals like clocks and alarms.

“Our neighbour who had been in RAF saw it. He said it ‘wasn’t anything of ours’.”

Earlier this week an airline pilot reported how he ducked in his cockpit when a '’rugby-ball’ shaped object came within feet of his A320 Airbus near Heathrow Airport. And a mystery object grounded planes and cancelled flights for three hours at Bremen airport in Germany on Monday.