The drone map of Great Britain: Our interactive guide shows how sightings are pouring in as US airbases are buzzed in UK and New Jersey is hit by UFO panic

Drone fever is on the rise after mysterious UAVs were spotted over US airbases in the UK and others sparked a mass panic in the skies over New Jersey.

MailOnline has now unearthed more sightings of drones in our skies as the debate rages over the origins of the phenomenon.

We have found at least six previously unknown recent sightings of UFOs in this country ranging from rural Northumberland to urban Luton – including more over UK military airbases.

In the US The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced a temporary drone ban in New Jersey, citing ‘special security reasons.’

And one military expert has warned that the sightings could be the work of Russian ‘sleeper agents’ looking to test the aerial defences of western nations.

The drones panic began in the UK when mysterious lights were spotted over RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, which has been earmarked as a storage facility for US nuclear warheads three times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

MailOnline has catalogued some of the sightings reported by our readers in the skies above Britain and Europe in recent weeks.

One spotted a bright flying object near RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, a key station helping providing surveillance of UK airspace and tactical control of combat and support aircraft. 

‘I took two photos of a lovely sunrise,’ she told us.

‘I looked back at them later and spotted a bright light in the sky. If you zoom in it’s sort of diamond-shaped.’

She added: ‘There was a few seconds between photos and in that time it has moved across the sky. I am 18 miles south of RAF Boulmer. 

‘When I zoomed in the photo to see if it looked like a plane or a helicopter – it definitely doesn’t.’

Meanwhile Rebecca Cardwell, from Blackpool, said she saw what she described as ‘slow moving lights’ around 7pm on October 19.

The city is just 15 minutes from Weeton Barracks, which has recently become the home of the first Battalion of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.

She said: ‘I went to open my bedroom window at approximately 7pm to see slow moving bright orange flames or objects flying over in procession. 

‘I’ve never seen anything like this before and took some pictures. 

‘I’ve just seen an article in the Mail about drones and thought my images looked similar. 

‘There were at least seven flames/objects that I witnessed, maybe more.’

Matt Chaplin-Haylett in Northampton also reported sightings.

He said: ‘I looked out my windscreen and saw a solo light… bit weird.. no other stars in sight.

‘I grab my phone, zoom in on video and I think I’m going mad. ‘

He sent it to his family but when he looked up again, it had disappeared.

He added: ‘It looked like a white light, but zoom showed it having green and red lights – static in the sky.’

Michael Chapman from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire reported seeing ‘hundreds of moving lights’ when he stepped outside for a cigarette around 3am last week.

The town is home to RAF Wyton, a strategic command station which provides intelligence to British armed forces operating around the world.

He said: ‘I look up to the sky and see hundreds of lights moving in coordination. 

‘Quite a slow speed, perfectly spaced apart from each other. Almost like hundreds of planes flying overhead. They weren’t planes and I didn’t think it was drones either to be honest. 

‘I wasn’t quite sure what I was seeing so my best guess would have been drones. 

‘I attempted to take pictures but the lights wouldn’t even show up in image just showed a blank black sky.’

Jo Jenner spotted these in Wormingford, Essex as well as Colchester on November 22.

‘I saw numerous drones in the sky over a couple of evenings in the area of the Essex/Suffolk border’, she said.

Adding: ‘I counted at least 10 in the sky on both occasions.’

It also seems these drones are also being spotted near busy London airports, as one Mail reader from Luton told us.

He described seeing ‘red orbs flying across the night sky’ on May 31 this year. 

He said: ‘They were travelling into 17mph headwinds in heavy and light rain and in and out of the low cloud base while maintaining a laser tight trajectory to each other travelling south towards Luton airport 

‘At the time I did a quick check for air traffic including wind directions to rule out commercial aircraft or lanterns and I’m pretty sure the harsh weather conditions and restrictions can rule those out.’

This series of accounts match with what has been reported at and near RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.

Farmworker Ricky Fletcher, 43, was leaving work on November 29 when initially he only saw what he described as drone flying over Hockwold cum Wilton.

The village sits between two Air Force bases, RAF Feltwell and RAF Lakenheath. 

He told us: ‘I first saw them on the farm I work at, I was leaving work at 4pm on Friday evening and saw one flying way from Feltwell low to the ground, I almost thought it was a helicopter, it was so big.

Adding: ‘All of a sudden we looked up and saw about 10 of them circling around. We were fascinated by them, they were just circling around, not really flying in the same direction.’

US Intelligence agencies have sought to reassure Americans amid the widespread panic over these UFOs saying there is nothing nefarious about these drones.

The CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defence met with members of the House Intelligence Committee about the unidentified aircraft that have been reported in multiple states.

It was argued the aircraft are not part of a classified government operation, and said there seems to be no one reason behind the phenomenon. 

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the majority of the sightings in the US are from drone hobbyists. 

He said: ‘We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones.’

‘We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace In New Jersey, or other states in the Northeast. The work continues.’

‘But I want to stress again, our assessment at this stage is that the activity represents commercial, hobbyist law enforcement drones, all operating legally and lawful and or civilian aviation aircraft,’ he underlined.

Defence expert Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former head of the UK’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, previously told MailOnline he feared it could be a Kremlin plot to test the defences of British and American bases.

‘It’s no secret that there are sleepers and stuff around,’ he warned. ‘It’s espionage 2.0. It’s the next stage. So, this is absolutely the case.’

Federal Aviation Administration has now banned the use of drones in 22 infrastructure sites in New York and New Jersey.

These measures will allow the government to use ‘deadly force’ against unmanned aircraft if they post an ‘imminent security threat’.

The order says no unmanned aircraft can operate below 400ft, the maximum altitude for recreational drone operations under FAA rules.