Lights in the night sky above Chorley this week were revealed as "probably a military exercise" by the Ministry of Defence.

Curious folk who witnessed the slowly moving lights early on Monday evening rang the Citizen to report the incident and inquire if we knew what was happening.

One caller from Wheelton said: "I stood and watched what appeared to be three aircraft in formation with red flashing lights. I thought they were helicopters, but I wasn't sure.

"When I saw them they appeared to fly equidistantly from the south east to the north west, say from the direction of Bolton to Blackpool, and turned in a large sweep, keeping their formation, back on themselves."

He added: "It was about 6pm and there was a clear night sky. When I mentioned it later to others they said they had seen them, too, and said they had seen five lights.

"It was quite interesting to stand and watch, but I was curious as to what was happening. It seemed quite unusual." A spokesman for the MOD said: "It was probably a military exercise. It's a routine thing to have a military exercise going on over parts of Lancashire. There would be nothing unusual about this."

According to a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, however, it may have been light aircraft

He said: "Light aircraft, which would include small helicopters, don't need to tell us where they are going or what they are doing. It could have been three private pilots going somewhere."