LITTLE green men from outer space enjoy nothing better than taking their flying saucers to Warminster, a study into UFOs has revealed.

Thousands of people have experienced mysterious lights and weird sounds above the ancient fort at Cley Hill during the past 40 years.

Cley Hill became the unofficial observatory for British UFO spotters in the 1960s after strange lights in the sky were captured on film.

A spokesman for brewers Grolsch, who carried out the survey, said: "Warminster came so high because thousands of people across Wiltshire have seen lights and objects in the sky circling above Cley Hill in the past 40 years.

"Alien activity here took off in the 1960s with lights and rings being seen from time to time by many people.

"Local people refer to the strange phenomenon as 'the thing'."

A peculiar shimmering light was observed and filmed by Gordon Faulkner in August 1965 but condemned 30 years later as a fake.

Recently several more people reported UFOs flying over the skies in Semington and Trowbridge in 2001.

Matthew Williams, who has investigated UFO activity at Cley Hill in recent years, said: "It is definitely a hot spot because of the sheer amount of people who have reported seeing something in the skies.

"It is a place of high activity, and because it receives a lot of attention more people come to watch the sky and see things."

UFO expert Christopher Martin, who claims he was once abducted, believes Cley Hill is a prime spot for extra-terrestrial behaviour.

He said: "You can be abducted by aliens anywhere and at any time but the classic abduction happens at night when you are lying in bed and you're awakened by a bright light.

"You are lifted or floated out of your room, often through the walls and brought on to a spaceship."

But many of the sightings at the 240 metre-high hill near Warminster have been dismissed as military aircraft operating over Salisbury Plain.

The Grolsch survey looked into extra-terrestrial activity to reveal the 40 UK Hot Spots for Alien Abduction for a new advertising campaign

Top of the list for UFO activity in Britain is Bonnybridge in Scotland.

Not all witnesses in the town were UFO watchers but many people, from firefighters answering a 999 call to a pilot of a police helicopter, have reported out-of-this-world experiences.

By Matt Wilkinson