Late 2020 – Yardley, Birmingham – White Orb

23 hours ago

3 min read

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Year: 2024

Last Updated: 13/10/2026

In April 2024 witness Neil Watson got in touch with BUFOG via our website’s sighting report form to inform us of a sighting of a disc-shaped UFO he had in August 2020. When I reached out to him to discuss the incident via phone he mentioned that later in the same year he had another sighting of a glowing orb. This case report covers this second incident.

Sighting Details

The incident took place on either a Wednesday or Thursday morning. At the time Neil lived on Arkley Road in Yardley. However, he had stopped overnight at a friend’s house in Kitts Green, and the following morning he decided to visit his aunt in Hall Green.

*Aerial map indicating Kitts Green (A) and Hall Green (B)*

He woke up early, deciding to split the journey by bus travel followed by a walk. He disembarked at the bus stop next to the Swan Shopping Centre in Yardley, then began to walk South along Yardley Road in the direction of Hall Green.

*Aerial map of Yardley Road showing the route Neil walked*

Due to the time of morning it was still fully dark and quite cold. Neil cannot recollect seeing any stars, and says that there may have been cloud cover. There were no other pedestrians around. As he walked along he happened to look up into the sky ahead of him. There, seemingly about 500 feet up, was a glowing white orb of light. It seemed to be larger and brighter than a star would appear.

The object was on a straight course and moving in his direction. Neil immediately stopped walking and started to observe the orb as it approached. Sadly he did not have his smartphone on him, he had left it at home.

After about 30 seconds it suddenly completely changed direction and began moving away from him again. He watched it for a further minute until it had vanished from sight into the distance. Neil got the distinct impression that the object had spotted him and this is why it had changed course suddenly. The orb did not reappear so he continued his walk home.

Sighting Analysis

The glowing orb that Neil observed certainly sounds like it was within the atmosphere rather than out in orbit . The sudden change in direction of the object rules out numerous mundane explanations including a satellite brightly reflecting sunlight, the International Space Station and an aircraft with its landing lights on.

A helicopter sounds unlikely too. Even though helicopters can turn round in a stationary position, it would take time for it to have slowed to a halt, then slowly turned and sped back up again. Also there were no other navigation lights seen such as a flashing white strobe, red or green.

However, a couple of explanations are more probable. There is the possibility that the object was a drone with white lights, too distant to make out the rotor blades. Of course, you would have to question why someone might be flying a drone that early in the morning. Another possibility is that the object was a white coloured LED balloon drifting on an air current, which suddenly got caught in an opposing current moving in the opposite direction.

While neither of these explanations can be confirmed, and there is the possibility that the movement observed was down to intelligent control, they cannot be ruled out. Therefore the actual explanation for the object remains a mystery.

As mentioned, later the same year Neil had a daylight sighting of a disc-shaped UFO. Click here to check out the separate report.

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