A Shropshire pilot says he is baffled by strange markings appearing in the heather covering the Shropshire and border hills.

Bryan Searle, from Ellesmere, takes to the skies whenever he can and strange markings on the hills have been catching his eye – leaving him wondering if they could be the work of aliens.

Although the amateur pilot fancifully suggests they could be alien landing strips, he thinks the truth could also lie closer to home.

He thinks they could have been made by people cutting heather for floristry.

“I took some photographs in the spring this year, and others only in the last few days,” he said.

Some of the markings were over the Berwyn and Llantisilio mountains around Llangollen and the Shropshire/Welsh border, others over the Long Mynd and the Stiperstones.

Mr Searle is so fascinated that he has returned to the sites on foot.

“From the air they remind me of aborigine paintings, they are very beautiful. I have examined them closely on foot and they appear to be machine cut, but seem to be totally random in shape and distribution.

“I was hoping someone might be able to explain this curious phenomena, why the heather is cut in this way and what for. I have asked many locals and other pilots but no-one has the slightest notion what these marks represent, maybe they are alien landings. I am mystified.”

A spokesman for the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty said the markings could be from ancient settlements. He said: “I know there are many of these settlements in the Long Mynd so that could explain it.”

Ancient settlements on the Long Mynd have been photographed before. Pictures of an Iron Age settlement at Black Knoll can be found among the archives of the Clywd-Powys Archaeological Trust but are very different from those discovered by Mr Searle.

By Sue Austin and Steve Todd