Exclusive: Yorkshireman Captures Saucer-Shaped ‘UFO’ Over Skipton Hills

Have you captured an alien spacecraft on camera? Send an email to jonathan.chadwick@.co.uk

Unusual flying objects are typically regarded as a domestic occurrence.

However, a striking photograph captures one boldly soaring over the hills in northern England – leaving specialists puzzled.

A strange flying object was captured on camera near Shipton in Yorkshire by local photographer John Tunnah.

Strangely, the Yorkshire man captured around 10 or 12 images from his position, yet the object was visible in only one of them.

Mr. Tunnah mentioned that they were the “first photographs taken with a new camera” he had recently bought.

He characterized the occurrence as likely a ‘UFO’ – an unidentifiable aerial vehicle.

And it closely resembles the traditional UFO saucer design seen in mainstream media, featuring a unique circular and stretched form.

“Why it was flying at a low altitude over West Yorkshire remained unclear,” Mr. Tunnah said to the Daily Mail.

The image, provided only to the Daily Mail, was captured using a Pentax Optio SVi camera on a Saturday morning, as stated by Mr. Tunnah.

“I was heading home with it when I saw, behind the hills past Silsden, a perfectly shaped cloud arch—like a cloudy rainbow,” he said.

I stopped by, planning to take pictures. By the time I had the camera ready, the arch had already dispersed as shown in the photo, but I still took a few shots.

That night, I was experimenting with the camera and reviewing images I had captured when I found this one that featured something on the far left.

It wasn’t visible in any of the other photographs I had captured around that period.

I’m not someone who believes in ‘flying-saucers’ or ‘alien encounters,’ but whatever it was, it qualifies as a UFO.

Mr. Tunnah, who hails from Scotland, demonstrated the confusing click to some of his friends “just out of curiosity.”

“They all seemed to concur that it was ‘real,’ ‘solid,’ and appeared to be moving quickly from the fading ‘arch’ on the horizon,” he stated.

What is the enigmatic item?

The item closely resembles the iconic UFO saucer design commonly seen in mainstream media, featuring a unique circular and stretched form.

John Tunnah, the photographer, suggested that the object might resemble a Skunk Works-style aircraft near the horizon.

Alternatively, it might be a rapidly moving creature located closer to the camera.

Several hypotheses were proposed – including ‘flying saucer’ and a briefly existing cloud.

The inhabitant suggested that it might also be a ‘Skunk Works-style plane with an entirely new configuration’.

The official nickname for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs (ADP) is Skunk Works, which oversees the creation of top-secret experimental aircraft.

Nick Pope, a former UFO specialist from the UK’s Ministry of Defence, provided several interpretations for Mr Tunnah’s photograph.

“When images reveal an irregularity that wasn’t noticed at the moment, I believe it could be due to a camera malfunction, or a rapidly moving object such as a bird or insect near the lens,” he said to the Daily Mail.

However, the United States Department of Defense – also referred to as the Pentagon – chose not to provide any statement regarding the image.

UFO refers to “unidentified flying object,” and therefore the term does not automatically imply an object from an alien source.

However, certain aspects align with typical portrayals of what UFOs appear like.

A 2023 Pentagon report indicated thatThe standard UFO typically features a circular form, often resembling a sphere or a ball, and is usually white or silver in color.

According to information gathered from reported sightings between 1996 and 2023, other UFO shapes consist of rectangles, ovals, triangles, discs, cylinders, squares, and even polygons.

In the meantime, 16 percent have been categorized as having lights, although in numerous instances this could have resulted from their reflective properties.

The Pentagon also issued a hotspot reportmap that shows the location of documented UFO encounters, including Japan and the Middle East.

Pentagon confused by 8,000 unknown UFO spheres appearing near U.S. military installations

A surge of tiny metallic spheres has been observed floating above the United States in recent years, prompting the Pentagon to work urgently to determine the nature of these enigmatic UFOs.

A recent publication from the collaborative website Enigma, where individuals can submit reports of unexplained aerial phenomena (UAPs),discloses over 8,000 reports throughout the United States from December 2022 to June 2025.

Out of these, 422 reports detail metallic spheres, most of which were seen between 1am and 4am close to military bases in New York,California, and Arizona.

Witnesses, such as ordinary people, pilots, and armed forces members, described observing the spheres remain quiet in the air before accelerating rapidly, with no indication of their exit.

Some of the encounters have been recorded on film or radar, although a significant number continue to be unexplained.

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