Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 19/04/2020
Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used
In March 2020 Patrick got in touch with me by our Facebook community page to report a sighting he had at 5am of many star-like objects crossing the sky over Gloucester in clustered groups. Later on the same day a second report of the same objects came in via our website. After looking into the details I feel confident that the objects were Starlink satellites launched as part of Elon Musk’s Space X programme.
When I rang Patrick to discuss the explanation for his sighting, he also covered three other previous sightings which are harder to explain. This report covers these three sightings in depth.
First UFO Formation Sighting
In the early 1970s Patrick lived in Springfield, Chelmsford with his parents. It was the autumn of 1972 / 73 when Patrick was 12 or 13 years old (He thinks October but can’t be certain). It was 7pm in the evening and he was out on his bike riding around the housing estate on Aldeburgh Way with his next door neighbour. Due to the time of year it was already dark and the stars were out. It was very quiet and there were no other pedestrians around.
Patrick looked up into the sky and noticed a cluster of points of light directly overhead. They looked similar to stars in appearance. There was between 30-40 of them and they appeared to be at high altitude. The objects were moving extremely rapidly in different directions, sometimes stopping abruptly for periods of time or performing sudden sharp right angle turns. Both he and his neighbour were fascinated by the objects. Unfortunately they did not have a camera on them, and Patrick doubts it would have picked up the objects anyway.
After watching them for a period of time all of the objects suddenly vanished at once. Then a few seconds later they all reappeared. This happened a number of times during the sighting. After watching them for about 10 minutes they decided to ride back home, with the objects still visible above them in the sky.
This is an interesting sighting due to the movements the objects were performing. I asked Patrick if he felt the objects could have been explained as light from the ground reflecting off a flock of birds. He said that the movements the objects were making were too sharp and sudden to be birds. Due to these movements and the speed of the objects a tethered bunch of helium balloons from a celebration can also be discounted, and there were far too many objects for them to have been a formation of high altitude helicopters.
Egg-Shaped UFO Photograph
By 2005 Patrick had become an antiques dealer. In the summertime he visited Venice to deliver some glass to an antiques gallery. It was a clear, sunny and still day. He was walking around Venice island when he arrived at the edge with a view over Venetian Lagoon with a view back across to the mainland.
Roughly half way across the water, about a mile from his location, he noticed a chrome silver coloured object. The sunlight was reflecting off its surface. It appeared to be about 200 feet up and 8-10 foot in diameter. The object was the shape of an egg positioned vertically with the top narrower than the base.
At first Patrick thought it must be a balloon. However he soon realised the object appeared to be completely stationary. He looked away from it a moment. When he looked back at first he couldn’t see it, but then spotted it again a bit further away. Once again it appeared to be stationary, although it had certainly moved from its initial position.
Patrick got his camera out and took a single photograph of the object. He looked down at the camera screen to see if he had caught it, but it was nowhere to be seen on the image. When he looked back up the object had completely vanished from sight. This was unusual as it was a clear day and there was nowhere for it to have gone.
He did not notice anyone else looking out over the water from his location, but due to the fact it was seen in daylight there is the possibility of other witnesses. When Patrick got back home he uploaded the photograph to his computer. Zooming in on the photograph he realised he had managed to capture the object, but it was very small indeed.
It is good that Patrick managed to take a photograph of the object, even at a distance, as it confirms it was definitely present. Patrick is currently unable to provide the photograph as it is storage and he is unable to visit this due to Coronavirus. Once I receive it I will update this report with it.
Despite the fact that object appeared to be stationary whenever he was observing it, I feel that a silver-coloured inflatable cannot be entirely ruled out. It certainly seemed to have changed position when he glanced away temporarily. And perhaps when it vanished for good it had merely drifted slowly out of sight away from him. It was clearly not a very large object and it did not perform any significant manoeuvres which would indicate it was under intelligent control.
Second UFO Formation Sighting
By 2010 Patrick had moved to a house in Richmond, Surrey. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and he had gone out to an area of grassland called Ham Common with his partner Joanna. They were lying down on the grass and looking up at the blue sky.
Directly overhead Patrick suddenly noticed a cluster of metallic or pale grey objects at very high altitude. There were between 10-15 of these objects and they were moving back and forth around one another. The movements were less direct than the objects he had seen back in the 1970s. Patrick pointed them out to Joanna. At first she found it hard to see them as it was day time and they were so high up but eventually she was able to spot them.
They both continued to watch the objects for about 15 minutes. After this time they were no longer able to see them. It is possible they had ascended to a higher altitude out of sight. Neither of them had a camera on them at the time, and Patrick doubts it would have picked them up due to the altitude they were at.
While this is again an interesting and prolonged sighting of a formation of UFOs, I feel that in this case a cluster of tethered helium balloons cannot be ruled out. These could have slowly drifted up into the sky and were continuing to rise until they vanished from sight. Patrick says that the movements looked more like drifting rather than artificial and controlled. Another possibility is a flock of birds however they did watch them for 15 minutes, it seems unlikely that birds would remain in the same area of sky for this length of time.
Conclusion
Patrick has had a number of intriguing sightings. It is interesting that he initially came to me with a sighting of a formation of objects which were identified, but two of his previous sightings were also of groupings of many objects which are harder to explain. It is also great that he managed to photograph the silver coloured UFO (albeit at a distance), and I look forward to analysing it in due course once Patrick is able to obtain it!
If you have any additional information relating to any of these incidents please get in touch.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020