13th July 2014 - Sutton Coldfield – Cigar UFO Photograph

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Year: 2014

Last Updated: 11/06/2025

In July 2014 Jay Achyara sent me a series of three images of the moon he had captured on his night camera on the night of 13th July in the area of Sutton Coldfield. In the second of these images is an unidentified object which Jay was intrigued by and wanted my commentary on.

Below are the three original images in sequence order:

The object in question only appears on the second image of the three. It is indicated below:

Enhanced zoom of the second image provided by the witness:

Close zoom of the object from enhanced image. The colour of the object may be caused by it being silhouetted against the bright moon:

As Jay sent me the original images extracted from his camera it is possible to conduct metadata analysis on them. This is additional hidden information behind the images which can be viewed using various software/websites. Below is the full metadata extracted from each of the three images, with important values highlighted:

1st Image:

2nd Image (Containing UFO):

3rd Image:

From the metadata, the following useful information can be gained:

- The images were taken on a Sony SLT-A58 camera

- They were taken in relatively quick succession at 22:33:44, 22:33:55 and 22:34:02 on 13/07/2014

The fact that the metadata of the 2nd image matches the other two except for the time indicates that the image is genuine and has not been tampered with using computer software, as this results in a large number of metadata changes, both to values and the order that the metadata appears in.

It is unknown whether or not they saw the object captured with their naked eye, or whether it was moving or stationary at the moment the 2nd image was taken. What we do know is that 11 seconds before when the 1st image was taken the object was not present, and 7 seconds after when the 3rd image was taken the object was no longer in shot.

The object appears to be roughly cigar-shaped, but not straight edged like an artificially created object would be. It is impossible to tell from the image how far away it is, so therefore it is impossible to gauge its actual size.

It does not look like a normal aircraft or drone, and if it was a drifting inflatable you’d expect it still to be in shot (although if the wind was strong at the time it might not be). However it is entirely possible that the object is a bird in mid-flight passing in front of the moon. This could easily have carried on its course, exiting the view of the camera by the time the 3rd shot was taken. Another possibility is that it is an insect or airborne debris passing closely in front of the camera lens. In both of these scenarios the witness may not have noticed it at the time and only discovered it later on when checking the images.

Without additional information from the witness it is impossible to comment further at this point.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025