West Midlands Police received 12 reports of UFO sightings between 2013 and 2016.

Meanwhile West Mercia Police received four reports across Shropshire in the same time frame.

The figures have been revealed following Freedom Of Information requests to both police forces.

It comes as two high-profile UFO sightings have occurred across the region in the last three decades.

Shropshire's most notorious 'X-File' incident took place at RAF Cosford in 1993 where an MoD police patrol saw bright lights in the sky. The sighting - dubbed the Cosford Incident - took place on March 31, at 1.15am. Dozens of triangular shaped UFOs were spotted moving at speed in the sky across western Britain at around the time.

In the Black Country, numerous sightings of a triangle-shaped UFO have been spotted over Dudley since the start of the millennium. The numerous reports of the bright lights have gave way to the nickname the 'Dudley Dorito'.

A break-down of the stats from West Midlands Police show the most UFO reports came from Birmingham, with three being made since 2013.

There were two reports in Dudley and Sandwell, and one report from Wolverhampton and Walsall.

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Police revealed some of the sightings were described as 'lights', 'objects' and 'objects with lights'. But none were investigated by police officers.

In Shropshire, West Merica Police revealed four UFO sightings took place across the rural county since 2013.

An 'object with lights and flames' was seen flying the low before landing in a tree in Donnington, Telford, on November 11, 2013. The sighting took place in the early hours and was reported at 3.47am.

Around 10 months later, an object was seen 'moving erratically in the sky' over Bridgnorth. It had lights and was doing '90 degree turns'. Police received the report on September 25, 2014, at 4.23am. Police closed the log into the incident pending further enquiries.

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A 'UFO' with 'lots of lights and loud screaming' was seen around 30 to 40 feet from the ground in Mickleton, Gloucestershire. The incident was reported to West Merica Police on February 25, 2016 at 19.32pm, but officers passed it onto Gloucestershire Police.

The most recent UFO sighting reported to police in Shropshire took place in Shrewsbury. Strangle lights were reported on March 7, 2016, at 1.17am. But the sighting was established as a helicopter and no police deployment was made.

The term UFO was officially coined by the American air force in 1953 and has since become widespread.

Allied pilots described such sightings as 'foo fighters' during the Second World War.

Staffordshire Police said it was unable to respond to an FOI request regarding UFOs because it would be too costly to investigate.