Roger Longshaw spotted the "tornado" when he was playing golf More on the tornado

The distinctive swirling funnel was spotted by golfers near Thame on Wednesday but it is not believed to have caused any damage.

Golfer Roger Longshaw said he saw the funnel moving through the club gates then "hitting the ground" - which would mean the phenomenon was a tornado.

But the Met Office said there had not been any reports of a tornado and what was seen was probably a funnel cloud.

Mr Longshaw, from Oxford, told the BBC: "I got my camera out to take the tornado, but it didn't reappear, a second funnel cloud appeared, it didn't touch down.

"I spent most of the year working in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the tornado-capital of the US, but in 25 weeks I didn't see one tornado."

He said the whole thing lasted about three minutes and happened at about 1400 BST.

The business consultant said that while he and his friends had been surprised by what they saw it did not disrupt their game at the Oxfordshire Golf Club.