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 did n'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 , the 7th Century , in California . The patron Saint of England St George slayed a dragon in famous legend .