Santa's on his way; Limerick girl finds his welly in garden hedge

Astronomers are alerting sky watchers to be on the lookout for evidence of what appears to be meteor showers.

A NASA spokesperson says these trails of light fragments travelling at speed across the sky are in fact hundreds of small gift-shaped objects hurtling through the atmosphere on Santa Claus's sleigh.

It follows hundreds of sightings of reported meteor trails across the world, from the Galapagos Islands to Portlaoise.

Satellite trackers have revealed that Mr Claus has just left Mongolia and is heading towards Russia, with 1.8 million presents delivered so far.

Meanwhile, Santa's welly has been found.

The size 14 black welly which fell off Mr Claus's left foot during a patch of thunder earlier today was located by a small girl in a garden hedge in Moyross, County Limerick.

She handed it in to the post office, so An Post has arranged for an express delivery to intercept with the sleigh - currently flying over Bangladesh - and return the wellington boot.

Mrs Claus has thanked children in Ireland for looking out for the welly.