These incredible photographs  appear to capture a fire-breathing dragon in the sky - just in time for St George's Day. With its large snout and blackened eyes, the furious-looking beast appeared to breath fire as it stared down from the sky in the bizarre cloud formation. Captured at dusk the red sky adds a fiery hue behind the clouded creature giving it an uncanny likeness to the legend of the fire breathing dragon slain by St George - ahead of the patron Saint of England's day tomorrow. The cloud dragon appears to breathe fire in these incredible images captured by amateur photographer Nicolas Locatelli . Amateur photographer Nicolas Locatelli, 20, snapped the unusual cloud in the sky above Briones Regional Park, in California on a Nikon D7100. The student, from San Francisco said he didn't even notice the striking formation until he checked his camera when he got home. The image went viral on Reddit after his friends suggested he upload it to the social network. He only noticed that the red sky at dawn appeared to give a fiery hue behind the cloud formation after he got home and checked the pictures . The pictures, which create an uncanny likeness to the fire breathing dragon slain by St George, the patron Saint of England, were captured at dusk above Briones Regional Park, in California . Nicolas said: 'When I saw the image I was pretty intrigued. 'The way the sunset lit up the cloud at the mouth of the dragon made it look like flames were coming out of its mouth. 'The image was timed perfectly too. The image was taken with a zoom lens on a stormy day so the clouds were in the distance and moving quickly so I got really lucky taking this picture. 'The image was received very positively on Reddit. 'When my friends saw the image, I asked, 'what do you see in this picture?' and they said 'definitely a dragon breathing fire' and 'it's the dragon slain by St George.' 'I got a lot of positive and jovial feedback on the image.' A picture of the legend of St George and the Dragon . The medieval legend of St George and the dragon is over a thousand years old. St George travelled to Libya, where he met an old hermit who told him a dragon had long ravaged the country, demanding the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden every day. With the population of young girls decimated, the king's daughter alone remained to be sacrificed, unless a knight could slay the dragon. Determined to save the princess, he set out to slay the dragon, luring it from its cave upon his arrival. But after falling from his horse, St George evaded the dragon's attack by hiding under an enchanted orange tree before recovering his strength and killing the beast with his sword. The slaying of the dragon by St George, a brave Roman soldier who protested against the Romans' torture of Christians, was first credited to him in the twelfth century, long after his death. The real St George was thought to be a Roman soldier, born to Christian parents in A.D. 270 in what is now Eastern Turkey. Adomnán, the Abbot of Iona in Scotland, provides Britain’s earliest recorded reference to Saint George in the 7th Century. He details the story of the Saint’s exploits, which had been told to him by a French bishop named Arcuif who had travelled to Jerusalem with the crusaders . As the Crusaders returned to England from foreign shores, they brought with them tales of St George, and his reputation grew . A church in Fordington, Dorset, still records St George leading the Crusaders into battle. St George later resigned his military post and protested against Emperor Diocletian against his persecution of Christians . He was dragged through the streets and executed on April 23, 303 AD. Almost a millenia later in 1222 the Council of Oxford declared April 23rd to be St George’s Day . It was not until 1348 that St George became the Patron Saint of England. Today April 23 is celebrated as a day of patriotism for England.
Cloud formation before the red dusk sky resembles a fire breathing dragon.
It was captured by amateur photographer Nicolas Locatelli, 20, in California.
The patron Saint of England St George slayed a dragon in famous legend.