London, Aug. 10: The British Ministry of Defence has said that 150 apparent 'flying saucers' have been reported to it, the police and military bases in 2008 so far, compared to 135 in 2007 and 97 in 2006.

These figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act, and according to The Sunday Telegraph suggest that 2008 will be a bumper year for alien activity.

The paper quoted Malcolm Robinson, the founder of the research group Strange Phenomena Investigations, as saying: "Something really bizarre is happening in the skies over the UK. I've been dealing in sightings for 30 years and we currently have something very real which mankind cannot explain."

A Defence Ministry spokesman said that as long as the sightings presented no threat to British airspace, they would not be investigated further.

The recent sightings stretched from Liverpool to Dover and from Llanelli to Derby. Among mysterious flying objects spotted in recent months was a 'glowing' disc spotted above the M5 motorway.

Royal Navy aircraft engineer Michael Madden said he watched the UFO for three minutes before it 'zoomed off' near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.

Earlier, in Basingstoke, the paper quoted witnesses as claiming that they had seen a fleet of 12 orange objects in the night sky for half an hour. (ANI)