Freak ball of lightning kills goose at Cheshire lake

Startled workers at Booths Park, Knutsford, watched the rare aerial phenomenon from the window of their office shortly after 2pm on Friday.

Chris Harrison, from Knutsford, said: "It was very weird. We saw a ball of flame around 10 metres above the ground beside the lake.

"The ball was around five metres in diameter and only lasted for three seconds.

"Apparently ball lightning is incredibly rare, we have certainly never seen anything like it before.

"Some of the office lost power temporarily."

A Canada goose was killed by a freak ball of lightning at Booths Park lake in Knutsford Picture: Chris Harrison

A large flock of geese flew off but three remained on the ground and one was struck.

Chris said: "Initially, I saw a normal fork lightning bolt hit some trees and then a minute later, about half a mile away I heard thunder and a ball of bright light in mid air.

"Around 100 geese flew out of the way, leaving three on the ground. One of them was caught."

Ball lightning is an unexplained phenomenon described as luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter.