10/01/2025 – Falcon Lodge, Sutton Coldfield – Drone Sighting, Noxious Odour
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Year: 2025
Last Updated: 02/11/2026
On 11th January 2025 a man named Fraser Hitch got in touch via phone to discuss a drone sighting he had experienced on the previous evening. He could only talk briefly at the time so I arranged a longer call with him several days later.
Sighting Details
At 6:45pm on Friday 10th January Fraser was outside his house on Ogley Drive, Falcon Lodge Estate, Sutton Coldfield. Due to the time of year it was already fully dark. He noticed what he initially thought was an aircraft with flashing alternately flashing red and green navigation lights coming towards him from the North.
As it approached he began to hear what appeared to be the normal hum of a plane’s engines. However, it appeared to be moving quite quickly. He thought to himself “That’s coming in a bit quickly for a plane.” It began to descend in altitude until it was only about 50 feet up.
As it got close to him the lights suddenly went out and it became extremely quiet, almost silent. It reached his position, passing just off to his right. At this point he became aware that it was not a plane but a large black coloured drone, seemingly about the size of a short wheel base van (9 feet).
As it moved away it veered off to the right. As it did he began to smell a pungent Sulphur like smell in the air. His eyes and nostrils started to burn, his lips began to tingle and his chest felt like it was on fire.
Before heading back inside Fraser noticed that there were two other drones present in the sky. He went back in. The symptoms remained so he decided to go to bed and sleep it off, hoping that he would be back to normal in the morning.
When he woke up he had a strong headache, and felt weak and achy. His eyes were still stinging and his breathing felt heavy. He contacted his partner, who lives two minutes away. She confirmed that she had also noticed several drones in the sky which passed over the estate.
Late in the evening Fraser noticed 5-6 drones travelling in a circular path over the estate at high altitude. The same drones were observed the following two nights. By Monday evening his symptoms had gone and he was feeling normal again. He took some video footage of the drones (he has not sent this footage to me yet).
On the Tuesday evening he was busy so did not check for the presence of the drones. However, on Wednesday morning when he looked outside he found that the area was covered in a dense fog. This fog lasted for the morning before dissipating.
Fraser believes that the drones he had seen were spraying chemicals into the air, which were responsible for both the strong Sulphur smell, his symptoms which lasted for several days and the dense fog observed on the morning of 15th January.
Sighting Analysis
Red and green flashing lights are used as warning lights after dark for some makes of commercial/police drones. In certain areas of the UK flashing green lights must be displayed after dark to differentiate them from planes/helicopters.
Other than the fact that the sulphur smell was detected briefly after the drone passed overhead, there is nothing linking it and the smell or symptoms that Fraser experienced. Google AI confirms there were no localized gas leaks on the evening of 11th January 2025 so this cannot have been responsible:
The excavation works for the new HS2 railway Excavation in Water Orton and Coleshill sometimes performs a limestone treatment process on wet excavated earth which results in a Sulphur-like smell that may drift into Sutton Coldfield depending on wind conditions. The excavation works lie approximately 5 miles South East of Sutton Coldfield.
However, Google AI confirms that on the evening of 11th January 2025 the wind was blowing in a South to South Easterly direction, which would have carried the smell away from Falcon Lodge not towards it:
Another cause of Sulphur-like smells is the sewage treatment works in Minworth. However, this lies 4 miles South South East of Falcon Lodge, so again the wind was blowing the wrong direction for this to be the cause.
However, this does not necessarily mean that they were definitely from chemicals dumped into the air from the drone. There is another possibility. Early in the year local farms around the rural fringes of Sutton Coldfield regularly spread fertilizers. In calm weather conditions this can lead to Sulphur-like odours to blanket the area. It was quite a calm night with only a light breeze, so this may have been responsible for the smell.
The symptoms that Fraser experienced were quite severe. However, there is the possibility that he was under the weather, and some of what he was experiencing, especially in the days following the incident, was down to this rather than something the drone had sprayed into the air.
Google AI confirms that there was a cold dense fog on the morning of 16th January 2025. However there is no mention that this was anything other than normal weather:
I have not been able to confirm the source of the odour which appeared to have adverse effects on the witness, at least in the short term. Whether you believe that the drone did spray a noxious chemical of some kind, which affected the witness for a number of days is going to be down to your own views on this particular subject.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026
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