Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Craig Lowe
Release Date: 23/12/2007
Hi, I wondered if the following might be of interest to you. My job involves call-out duties and I was travelling to such a call-out on Sunday 23/12/2007 at approximately 2125 GMT. As I was driving along the St. Johns Road section of Stourbridge Ring Road in the Left-hand lane, passing the BP Petrol Station, heading towards the Hagley Road exit, I happened to look up and saw an odd pattern of lights low in the sky at my approximate 2 o'clock position (sketch attached). They were apparently moving right to left at a moderate speed keeping perfect formation as shown when suddenly the bottom right-hand one broke formation and moved further to the right of the others, which remained on their original course and in perfect formation.
At one point I could have sworn I could make out a dark outline between the 3 lights forming the triangle but that might just have been my brain filling in the missing information it thought should be there. After a short while, I lost sight of them behind the various buildings in front of me. I have no real idea of the scale, i.e. whether it was small and fairly close or large and more distant. It did appear quite low in the sky, hence I lost it behind the buildings. My journey took me along the Hagley Road towards the junction with the A456 at the old Hagley Cattle Market traffic lights and then Left on the A456 towards Birmingham.
I thought I may have gained sight again as I climbed up the hill and beyond the Wassell Grove roundabout and the Badgers Sett but much scanning of the sky revealed nothing that could have been what I'd seen. It may have been obscured by the Clent Hills at that point though of course. Even when my view in that direction improved again on the Halesowen Bypass, there was nothing further to be seen. The lights were a similar colour to amber street lights which made me wonder if it was some kind of reflection in the windscreen. So on the way back from my call-out some 2 hours later, I drove around to the exact position again but could not recreate what I saw.
I have a scientific background and tend to analyse most things in life very carefully before jumping to any conclusions but I've racked my brains to think of a logical explanation for this and can't. Things I've considered: Stars - Wrong colour and too bright for most stars plus obvious movement. I'm pretty sure that their movement was 'real' and not just a result of my own relative movement. Planets - No for similar reasons. Satellites reflecting sunlight - Wrong part of the sky I think. Meteors - Movement far too slow. Aircraft flying in formation - Possible I suppose but it just didn't look 'right' for that. There were no navigation lights or anti-collision beacons visible. I don't think they were aircraft landing lights either. I'm quite familiar with the appearance of all three type of light. Hot Air Balloons - The light sources were constant, not in bursts as balloon burners would appear. In all my years, that is the first time I've ever seen something of this nature first hand that I can't find an explanation for. From my point of view this sighting classes as a UFO on the basis that it was clearly a flying object (or objects) that I couldn't identify. I'm very interested to know if anyone else saw this and can offer me an explanation.
Regards,
Sxxxx Pxxxxx
Copyright Craig Lowe 2007