A CLOSE encounter over the skies of a Ross-shire town has been captured on paper by a local youngster who was quick on the draw after the strange incident.

The UFO was spotted by three youngsters near Bridgend Court, in Dingwall around 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 12.

Cody MacKenzie, a P5 pupil at Dingwall Primary School, was so sure about what he saw that night he produced a detailed coloured sketch to show his parents what the UFO looked like.

He told the Ross-shire Journal, "We were sitting down on the kerb when we heard this loud humming noise. We looked up and saw the UFO just above the trees. I thought it was a UFO right away. It was shaped like one and had coloured lights turning round and round underneath it. We didn't see anyone in it but the lower part of it was a silver colour - you could tell that because the lights were reflecting on it." Cody, who was with his brother Keelin (7) and another friend, added, "We also saw a black helicopter in the sky at the same time and heard the noise of another UFO nearby but never saw it. We thought we should go home in case the UFO came down and landed beside us. It was pretty frightening. On the way home we saw it move off in the Muir of Ord and Inverness direction. It was quite big in size but it wasn't going very fast."

Cody's dad, Ian, a nightshift worker at Nigg, said, "I got a phone call from Cody telling me he has seen strange lights in the sky. I saw the picture Cody drew the next morning when I got home - it's not the sort of thing a young boy would bother drawing unless he had seen something."

He added, "I don't know if there was a military exercise happening that night, but there must have been something going on."

A Northern Constabulary spokesman in Dingwall said police had received no reports of unexplained activity at that time.

lCan you shed any light on the mystery? Contact us editor@rsjournal.co.uk