A man was left stunned after spotting ‘rainbow clouds’ in the sky while strolling along a seafront.

Ken Blight captured the colourful formation on his mobile phone’s camera in Westgate-on-Sea.

“I have never seen anything like it,” he said.

“They are pretty unusual. I think it’s something to do with light refraction through ice crystals.”

Mr Blight saw the clouds while walking along Westbrook Promenade between Margate and Westgate on Tuesday afternoon.

“I usually carry a camera with me, but I did not have it and had to rely on my phone,” he said.

“Being a retired scientist I looked the clouds up as soon as I got home.”

Mr Blight shared the pictures on Facebook, where others commented that they had also seen them.

Several people described them as “stunning” and “beautiful”, while others told of their amazement.

A ‘rainbow cloud’ occurs because of something called cloud iridescence – a phenomenon caused when small water droplets or small ice crystals scatter the sun's light.