A great number of people across the world believe UFO's are real, that there is an extraterrestrial presence.

Hilary Porter, from the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society (BEAMS) said sightings were becoming increasingly common. She said: "There has been a huge influx of UFOs. Absolutely enormous. There has been these huge formations than have been coming.

"We have had so many calls from people that have seen these huge formations. We have had call after call after call, from business people right down to ordinary folk in their cars. “There have been some very close encounters that have been quite unnerving for the people involved. We have had other people reporting orb sightings."

Others maintain that the vast majority of the sightings can be explained. Many are helicopters or other human designed craft like weather balloons and satellites, while others are optical illusions or unusual cloud formations. The MoD made the decision to release the files after a Freedom of Information request.

A spokeswoman said the ministry does not investigate each and every report. "We only investigate if there have been any objects in British air space that may be military," she said. "Unless there's evidence of a potential threat we don’t investigate to try to identify it.

Clusters of up to 100 mysterious objects, bright white lights and strange, triangular shaped objects are just some of a huge surge in UFO sightings reported to the Ministry of Defence last year.

The ministry has opened up its own "X-Files" for 2007, revealing 135 UFO sightings from across the UK.

In Duxford, Cambridgeshire on April 12, a witness reported seeing fifty objects, each with an orange light, assembling in the sky before ascending.

The seaside resort of Filey has been named the top spot for UFO spotters hunting an alien encounter. The North Yorkshire town has been named Britain's top location for sighting unidentified flying objects by the British UFO Hunters study group.

A spate of flying saucer sightings that alarmed residents of Orange County, California, and attracted attention from UFO researchers worldwide have been traced to the garages of a local heart surgeon and engineer.