A wind turbine in Lincolnshire has had a 65ft-long blade mysteriously wrecked (report, January 8). Strange lights were seen before the damage was discovered, leading to claims that UFOs were involved. However, a nearby fireworks party could explain these. The owners of the turbine, Ecotricity, continue to investigate the possibility of metal fatigue causing the damage, or perhaps a large piece of ice falling from a passing plane.

Two cases of falling chunks of ice were reported this week. On Monday a house in New Malden, Surrey, was hit by a large ice block that made a 6ft hole in the roof. One neighbour described the sound of the crash “like a field gun being fired”, and another witness thought that a gas boiler had exploded.

Huge chunks of ice were left scattered over the roof. And on Tuesday a woman in Guernsey heard the sound of ice chunks crashing into her greenhouse when she herself was struck by a piece of ice. Large shards of ice about 2in thick, and smooth on one side, were found strewn on the ground. These were nothing like hailstones.

In both cases the chunks of ice could have fallen off aircraft, during wintry showers. However, not all large pieces of ice fall from aircraft. The greatest recorded fall of ice was at Ord, near Inverness, in 1849, well before aircraft were invented, and The Times reported that it was some 20 feet across and weighed an estimated half a tonne.