A second earthquake in two days has struck the UK.

The latest earthquake, which had a magnitude of 3.8, hit the East Midlands village of Cottesmore, in Rutland, at 10.25pm last night, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS).

It came after an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 was recorded in Winchester on Tuesday.

The BGS said 1,400 people had reported feeling a tremor, from places as far apart as Luton in Bedfordshire, in Herefordshire and in Keighley.

This is the third such quake to hit the same area of Rutland in the past two years, which experts described as "unusual".

BGS seismologist Paul Denton, who lives in Oakham, a few miles from the epicentre, said he heard and felt an almost instantaneous "bang and a sharp jolt", but said those farther away would have witnessed shaking and vibrations.

However, he said it was unlikely the quake was strong enough to have caused structural damage.

"Rutland has come and gone, and come again, in terms of its own history, but there was no danger it would fail to survive this," he added.

East Midlands Ambulance Service said it had not received any calls of injuries linked to the tremors.

Mr Denton said that given this new quake had followed two similar-sized tremors in April last year, the BGS would likely begin monitoring the area more closely.

"You get two or three of these a year - but what makes it unusual is the fact we've had three similar sized earthquakes in more or less the same place.

"I'd expect the earthquakes to be more dispersed across the UK.

"The fact we've had these three quite big ones here, within a few kilometres of each other, is unusual."

He said the source of the fault causing the quake could not be precisely identified as the epicentre was between 8-10km (4-6 miles) below ground, adding there were "thousands of faults across the UK".

Residents took to Twitter to tell of their shock after realising an earthquake had struck.

Sally Smart wrote: "Earthquake wow that was a biggen!! Thought a truck was coming through the house #adrenalinepumping."

A man called Ben wrote: "How was there an earthquake in England? It's the end of the world."

Others posted photographs of framed pictures hanging on the walls slightly askew to show the aftermath of the earthquake.

However, some people seemed to take the incident in their stride.

User Laura Victoria, of Stamford, Lincolnshire, tweeted: "Bed wobbled, house shook, lots of rumbles....were we bothered by the M3.8 #OakhamEarthquake ? Nahhhh"

Another, called Dirk, wrote: "Meanwhile on Facebook, people from my village, where the earthquake barely hit, are making sure they're all okay and prepared for the worst."

The latest tremor, follows an earthquake which hit Winchester on Tuesday with police receiving reports of something which "felt like an explosion which shook their houses".

The quake is believed to have hit the Hampshire town at about 6.30pm at a depth of 1.8 miles (3km), according to the BGS website.

A police spokesman said that no explanation or cause for the shaking could be found and no injuries had been reported.

The BGS said it had received a report from a resident who said "the whole bed was visibly shaking" as well as one who said the earthquake sounded "like a bus" crashing "into the neighbours' house at speed".

Another told the BGS: "At least five other households ran outside to make sense of what had shook the houses."

The largest ever recorded earthquake to hit Britain was Dogger Bank in the North Sea in 1931, which hit 6.1 on the Richter scale, damaging coastal homes.

More recently in 2008, a 5.2-magnitude quake hit Lincolnshire near the town of Market Rasen.