10:34am UK, Monday June 24, 2002

Scotland has been dubbed the "Costa del Sol for Aliens" after coming first in a league table of world sightings of UFOs.

sl ufo.jpg

(Reuters)

The results, published on International UFO Day, show there are 300 reported UFO sightings in Scotland a year.

That is four times as many per square kilometre than France and Italy, who come joint second in the rankings.

Another dimension

UFO watchers in the Stirlingshire village of Bonnybridge notched up the world's highest number of spaceships and flying saucers in the early 1990s.

The area quickly became known as the `Falkirk triangle' and there were also more sightings in nearby West Lothian.

Stirling-based UFO expert Ron Halliday explained why he thought there were so many strange sightings in the Bonnybridge area in particular.

"One theory is that the area around Bonnybridge is some kind of window into another dimension," he said.

"That would explain why some people see a UFO and others don't - because a UFO is some kind of paranormal phenomenon rather than a nuts and bolts spaceship."

UFO hotspot

Graham Birdsall, editor of `UFO' magazine, offered another explanation as to why Scotland has become a UFO hotspot.

He said: "UFOs tend to be attracted to regions that are fairly remote."

"Plus, if you have a remote area, look out for airbases - Scotland is littered with airbases.

"In 90% of UFO reports, a bit of diligent research will produce a simple explanation but that still leaves 10% remaining unexplained."