'UFOs' celebrate Year of the Rat

'UFOs' that were seen over the island last weekend were probably Chinese lanterns used in new year celebrations. Several people reported seeing orange-coloured objects travelling at speed in an arc from the airport and disappearing towards the north.

Print platemaker Bruno Robilliard, 60, who lives at Les Abreveurs Road, St Sampson's, woke up on Sunday morning to find an 'alien' in his garden.

'I looked out of the kitchen window and noticed this orange/brown object on the grass,' he said.

'When I went outside I found it was fine tissue paper, very fragile because it was wet, with Chinese graphics on it.

'It was wrapped around a circular frame that had spokes which looked as though they had held what I presumed was a burner in the central section.'

While driving out of his gate on Thursday morning, Mr Robilliard had noticed a similar object in his front garden.

Many islanders have reported seeing sphere shapes travelling at high speed late on Saturday evening - Chinese New Year.

Printer Peter Bowring, 54, was about to go to bed at his Route Isabelle, St Peter Port, home when he saw the lights in the sky.

'I thought they might have been hot air balloons like I'd seen in France, so I went to fetch my binoculars,' he said.

'But they seemed to be travelling too fast and they were all following the same path.

'By the time I got back to the window they were too far away and all I could see was a red glow with no flame.

'I couldn't believe how fast they were going and I reckon they were about 1,700ft up.'

La Societe Guernesiaise astronomy section secretary Debbie Quertier said her daughter's friend had called to say she had seen something brightly-coloured in the sky travelling from east to west at about 10.30pm.

'I thought it might have been the International Space Station so I looked on the internet but the timing was wrong,' she said.

'She also said that the things were quite low.'