Sky weather presenter Lucy Verasamy said the best places to see the shower were in counties bordering The Wash, especially Lincolnshire.

One UK group of skywatchers - the Newbury Astronomical Society - has set up "Twitter Meteorwatch" to allow gazers to log their sightings.

NAS member Ann Davies told Sky News Online: "Last night wasn't as spectacular as some of the experts had predicted but there's always tonight.

"Hundreds of people tweeted and there were some good images. Twitter is a great way to get people interested in this sort of thing."

One of last night's tweets read: "A massive fireball just went across the sky from Perseus to Jupiter."

A gazer marks a meteor in green and two planes in red - picture by Parax on Twitter