A MAN'S pet dogs saved him from being hit by a rock falling from a tree while he was out walking them on a Blackburn playing field.

Edward Battersby, 68, was returning to his car parked in Tower Road when he heard a crashing sound through some trees.

His golden retrievers Katie, 13, and Emma, nine, scared by the sound pulled him away.

Moments later a rock fell through the trees and into the ground and landed where the pensioner had been standing.

At first Mr Battersby had thought it was a meteorite but the possibility was ruled out after academics from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) examined the object.

"It probably would have hit me if the dogs had not pulled me out of the way," said the pensioner, who lives with this wife Marion, 68, in Hollies Close.

"I was just going back to the car when I heard this crashing through the trees and the dogs shied away.

"It more or less went into the ground where I had been stood.

"I thought it was a meteorite, but it was strange because it was cold and I expected it to be red hot."

The incident happened at about 8am on Monday. The rock that weighed about 3lbs, was a browny red colour, had a rough surface, and was the size of a fist.

But Dr Robert Walsh, lecturer in astrophysics and mathematics at UCLan said: "It most definitely is not a meteorite."

He said if it were a meteorite it would have had a smooth surface and would be magnetic, which it was not.

He said it was probably a by-product from an industrial process, like slag.

The most likely explanation for it falling from a tree, he said, was that it had been thrown there by children.