Dad captures amazing dashcam footage of meteor hurtling through the sky

Story and video from SWNS

A dad-of-two captured this extraordinary video footage of a METEOR hurtling through the sky - at the same time as a huge sonic boom was heard across four counties.

Ian Dryhurst, 42, was in the car with his wife Wendy, and their nine-year-old twin sons William and Maximilian, when the family saw the "bright light" shoot through the sky on Saturday afternoon.

With the sun shining brightly in the clear blue sky, Ian, from Jersey in the Channel Islands, wondered if what he had seen was just a trick of the light.

But when the family got home, Ian checked his car dashcam footage - and confirmed that he and his family had seen an unusual object streaking across the sky.

The meteor, as it was later confirmed to be, was spotted in the sky over Jersey at 2.54pm - coinciding with a huge sonic boom heard over parts of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset.

Ian, who was driving home from visiting a family member for the day, said: "It was a very surreal thing to see, it shocked us all a bit.

"It happened so quickly, so I wasn't sure at first whether it was just a strange reflection in the windscreen, or the sun playing tricks on us.

"But myself and my wife and sons all sort of looked at each other and went, 'What was that?'.

"We were in the car with the music on, so we didn't hear anything, we just saw it.

"It was only when we got home that I realised that the dashcam footage would have picked it up, and I checked and saw that actually it wasn't just a trick of the light.

"We were very lucky that we managed to get it on camera."

Dozens of people took to social media on Saturday afternoon after being startled by a massive sonic boom, which reportedly shook houses.

Jersey Police and the coastguard were called following reports of the alleged 'meteor' sighting.

But the island's harbourmaster said that following inspection, and judging by images on social media, he was satisfied that it was in fact a meteor.

Beekeeper Sarah Beegee, 50, from West Dorset, was one of those who heard the sonic boom over her home.

She said: "I had just arrived in my Apiary to give my beehives a check and top up their feed when there was an enormous cracking, banging sound, followed by another almost straightaway.

"We live in an area where Pheasant shoots happen but this was so much louder and forceful.

"Time seemed to suspend for a few seconds after and then the all birds reacted by taking flight simultaneously.

"The initial bang was so loud it made my heart race and it did cross my mind to lie down! It was quite an expereince.

"I did look around expecting to see something crashing through the sky.

"I realised straight away it was a sonic boom as I used to do rowing, and sometimes in the boat out at sea you could hear the sonic booms travelling across the water from the army ranges.

"This was very different though, it sounded right over head and was pretty scary."

Meanwhile, the British Geological Survey Tweeted on Saturday afternoon of a "probable sonic event" over Somerset, Devon and Dorset.

They wrote: "BGS has no evidence of any seismic event in the area at the approximate time of 15:00 today.

"However, the descriptions provided by members of the public are consistent with those typically experienced by a sonic boom."