"Observers were left puzzled after spotting a strange unidentified object floating above Whernside, one of Yorkshire’s Three Peaks mountains.

The object was reportedly spotted on Saturday afternoon, with photographs taken by at least two people on the ground who were left scratching their heads about what it might be. The area in the Yorkshire Dales is often swarming with Three Peaks walkers heading up or off Whernside which stands at 736m (2,415ft).

The images were shared on the North Yorkshire Weather Updates page on Facebook, prompting a number of fanciful explanations, and a few plausible ones.

Someone said it looked a bit like the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. Other explanations included a puff of smoke from a steam train, an afterburn trail from a jet, and a weather balloon.

Several people suggested it was possibly a swarm of bees, flying ants or midges, or maybe even starlings. One man said it resembled a ‘mosquito ball’ as he’d seen similar sights before.

Quite a number of people posted gifs of various spaceships, aliens, Martians, extra terrestrials, or references to War of the Worlds. Some suggested it was a ‘dirty lens’ on the camera but two separate photos emerged which suggested this was unlikely.

One man wrote: “The tent from Leeds Festival a couple of weeks ago, still flying…”