As a bright light flickered in the sky, little did one Lowestoft family know that an unexpected arrival would soon be plummeting to earth.

And what made it even more unusual was that the object landed close to their home on Christmas Day.

For Ron Bagley, and his family, a quiet afternoon stroll led to a startling discovery – as a drone careered into a tree in the garden of his house in Carlton Colville.

Mr Bagley, of Buttercup Close, said: 'We had our lunch on Christmas Day and it was getting towards dusk when my wife Anita, son Oliver and I decided to go for a walk.

'As soon as we got outside the door we noticed this bright light in the sky – it was quite high up, and was coming towards us quite quickly.

'We could not believe our eyes.'

Looking around, it was then that Mr Bagley discovered the mysterious object had also captured the attentions of others.

'Another family were also looking into the sky and watching it descend quite quickly,' Mr Bagley said. 'It was then when we realised it was a drone.

'It passed over our house and went on to hit a large ash tree,'

Mr Bagley said the drone landed 'about 30ft up in the tree with the lights still flashing,' – and it stayed there all night 'with the lights on.'

Mr Bagley said: 'Luckily, my son Oli managed to get it down from the tree on Boxing Day. We asked around local families – but no-one knew anything about it.'

A posting on social media site Facebook, appealing for anyone with information to come forward, also proved fruitless.

Mr Bagley said: 'Someone has lost quite an expensive drone. I feel quite sad that someone may have lost a Christmas present.

'It looks like there is no damage to it, and it is still intact – but it was certainly quite an unexpected arrival.'

? Have you got a Lowestoft story? Email mark.boggis@archant.co.uk