Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 12/06/2021
Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used for some witnesses
On 30th May my friend “Johnny G” got in touch with me to excitedly discuss details of a formation of objects he had just witnessed and recorded on video over Tile Cross. This report covers what took place and provides an analysis of the footage.
Sighting Details
At approximately 2.35pm on 30th May 2021 Johnny was visiting his parents on Haywood Road, Tile Cross. He was sitting in the back garden with his sister Racheal, her boyfriend Tom and their children. His parents were in the kitchen at the time. It was a wonderful sunny, clear and still day.
They were sitting at a table playing flip the bottle. Johnny happened to look up into the sky to the North North West. He noticed 6 brightly glowing white points of light at an elevation of approximately 45 degrees. They looked almost organised into three pairs rather than being randomly scattered. Some of them appeared to be stationary while others were moving around in a strange manner, travelling back and forth slowly in arcs. They looked to be at very high altitude although it was hard to judge this because of a lack of point of reference.
Johnny got the attention of the others present in the garden and everyone started to watch the objects. As they watched they noticed some objects vanished while others appeared. The witnesses discussed what they might be. Because of the apparent altitude and manoeuvres being performed they agreed that they did not look like balloons, helicopters or planes. After about 2 and a half minutes Johnny realised he should try filming the objects to send to myself for analysis. At this point he started recording on his Poco F3 smartphone.
It was hard to tell whether anything was being picked up looking on his phone screen, so he only recorded for 18 seconds. He and the other witnesses continued to watch for a further few minutes. After this time the objects seemed to slowly vanish one by one.
Once the objects had departed he took a better look at the video footage he’d captured. He was surprised to see that not only had many of the main objects been picked up, but other fast moving objects had also been captured which he had not noticed directly. He immediately contacted me via Whatsapp to confirm what had just happened.
Other Witness Statement
On 2nd June I was able to speak with Racheal over the phone to hear what she recollected. Below are the details she provided:
“Johnny pointed it out to us and we then looked up. I first saw two silver dots which seemed to be standing still. They were quite shiny. After a short while I noticed another two, either directly under the first two or under and off to the right a bit. For me I saw them standing still for a long time. After a while they seemed to fade away one by one. Then another two appeared off to the right of where the others had been. I looked away, and when I looked back they were further apart than they had been, but it was hard to notice much movement when looking at them.”
I am awaiting a call from Tom. Once I have spoken with him, his testimony will be added to this report.
Video Footage
Below is the 18 second video that Johnny took of the objects:
As you can see, as he reported, there are white points of light which seem to be barely moving with other points of light which either fly right across the lens or appear, move around erratically and then vanish from sight.
Here is a still from the start of the footage with the six initially visible relatively static objects ringed:
At 3 seconds into the video initial Objects A, C, D and F have temporarily faded out, but two further objects, G and H, are now visible:
A zoomed view of some of the objects taken at 6 seconds into the video:
There are many fast moving white points of light which track across the lens through the footage. Below are some of the main ones observed with flight paths (Note: Flight paths are more curved in reality, these arrows have just been added to show rough directions).
Fast Mover A (Enters frame at 2 seconds):
Fast Mover B (Enters frame at 2 seconds):
Fast Mover C (Enters frame at 2 seconds):
Fast Mover D (Enters frame at 4 seconds):
Fast Mover E (Enters frame at 4 seconds):
Fast Mover F (Enters frame at 12 seconds):
The stability of the slow moving objects can be seen more clearly by point locking on them to reduce camera shake and see positioning of other objects in relation to them. As Objects C and D tend to fade in and out during the footage it is difficult to point lock on these, however it is possible to do this for the other objects which are largely visible throughout.
Point lock video on Object A. In the first 9 seconds of the video you can see that Objects A and B are nearly stationary, but Object B very slowly moves to the right in relation to Object A. At 6 seconds in Object C becomes visible after the witness starts to zoom in. A number of the fast moving objects can be seen crossing the lens:
Point lock video on object B. Again the very slow separation of Objects A and B can be seen:
Point lock video on object E. This only really works for the first 5 seconds because after that it leaves the left of the frame and the footage starts drifting. It pops back in from the left at 13 seconds and the lock resumes for a second before it vanishes again:
Point lock video on object F. With this video, the erratic manoeuvres of Fast Mover F can be seen:
Video Metadata
As Johnny was able to send me the video he took on his smartphone directly via E-Mail the metadata attached to it was preserved. Below is the first page of the metadata which contains the date/time it was taken and the GPS poition. The manufacturer and model of the phone camera can also be seen:
You will notice that the time on the video says 1.38pm where as in Johnny reported the incident took place at 2.38pm. I queried this with him and he confirmed the later of these. What this means is that the internal clock of the camera in his smartphone has not automatically gone forward for daylight savings so is an hour out.
Sighting Analysis
My personal opinion is that the most likely explanation for the slow moving objects is a launch of numerous silver/white coloured balloons reflecting the sunlight. In analysing the footage it can be seen that they appear stationary, to the point that I wondered if they were stars. However there are a number of reasons why I do not feel this is the case:
- Both Johnny and Tom confirm that in the minutes leading up to the video they observed the points of light moving round one another, even if in the 18 seconds of footage they are quite still.
- Stars are usually not visible during the daytime, and when they are it is usually when the sky is dark or cloudy.
- The points of light all appeared in the same area of sky, according to the witnesses there were none visible in other directions.
- The points of light vary in brightness and some disappear/reappear during the footage. This suggests objects changing rotation and sometimes reflecting the light stronger that at other times.
- After a number of minutes the objects vanished from sight gradually, probably because they drifted too distant to see any longer.
- A small amount of movement between Objects A and B can be observed:
Another possibility would be a distant formation of drones that for whatever reason were being flown together. However most of the time drones are only launched in large formations when they are to be utilised for a light show, which would of course have to take place after dark so there would be very little sense in launching them in the early afternoon.
The objects remained in the same area of sky for a number of minutes so a formation of aircraft can be discounted. A formation of distant helicopters, while theoretically possible, is very unlikely as no aircraft were tracked by Flight Radar 24 in the area at the date and time of the sighting:
Also 360 Radar confirms that the area has no airways over it, although it is only a mile North of Birmingham International Airport:
I think it is very likely that the fast moving objects crossing the lens are insects reflected in the sunlight much closer to the camera. Below are some zoomed images of Fast Movers C and E in which it is even possible to make out the wings:
Also this would explain why Johnny and the other witnesses did not see them with their own eyes, only on the footage. When I discussed my thoughts and the video analysis with both Johnny and Racheal they fully agreed with my conclusions.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2021