Security operatives backed by snarling dogs have sealed off the Conisholme wind farm in Lincolnshire, to prevent alien hunters making off with the remains of the UFO which earlier this month seriously damaged one of the turbines, the Sun reports.

Ufologists are pretty well convinced there is an extraterrestrial explanation for the incident which saw one turbine blade ripped off and another seriously damaged by a vessel "about 170ft long" following numerous reports of mystery "low-flying aircraft", lights in the sky and, finally, a "big bang".

Alien hunter Nick Pope had a light attack of the Area 51s, telling the Sun: “There may be something they don’t want people to see.”

Dale Vince of Ecotricity, which operates the site, said last week: "We don't have an explanation at the moment as to what the cause was. We have been crawling all over it and have sent bits off for analysis to see if we can work out what caused it. Until we have some idea, some plausible explanation that it was not a UFO, I don't think we should rule it out."

Well, German experts have indeed now moved in to attempt to pinpoint the cause of the carnage. Should they prove that ET isn't actually to blame, the black helicopter mob have a fall-back position - an ultrasecret robot stealth aircraft project hinted at by MoD, according to the Sun.

Pope concluded: “If a stealth aircraft struck the turbine, it may be made of some material which is itself classified above top secret.”

El Reg rang the MoD for clarification as to what material it has which could be classified as more secret than top secret, but a spokesman said: "That's so secret it's beyond above top secret, I'm afraid." ®