Luke Robinson was one of a group of eight who stayed in the Marsden Park area. He said: "At about 1- 46 a.m. I noticed a bright yellow light in the sky across the field, like the sun was rising but obviously it wasn't, at that early hour, though it was as bright.

"I pointed it out to everyone else and we went to look closer. One of my friends said: 'It's a bright yellow cloud' and then the light gradually started to fade.

"We then saw four black circular shadows across the sky in formation. It was absolutely silent, but they were slowly drifting.

"None of us can think of an explanation. Unfortunately we have no video or photo evidence, but there were eight of us who witnessed the scene. Our phone cameras couldn't pick it up, as it was too far. The black circles remained for about 20 minutes, and then vanished at about 2-15 a.m."

Mr Robinson, from Loveclough in Rossendale, added: "I was wondering if anyone else had seen them too"