June / July 2020 – Shirley – Silver Flying Triangle Sightings
- Chairman Dave
- Aug 5
- 4 min read
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 05/08/2025
In June 2025 Malcolm Ratcliffe got in touch via Facebook Messenger to discuss both a childhood UFO sighting he experienced in Dudley, and a couple of much more recent sightings he and his wife Lynne experienced from their previous residence in Shirley. This report covers the two Shirley sightings. The Dudley sighting is unrelated so has been written up as a separate report. A link to this can be found near the end of this one.
Initial Sighting
Back in 2020 Malcolm and Lynne lived in a flat on Stratford Road, Shirley. The flat is part of a block towards the Northern end of Shirley main shopping centre, situated above Howden Insurance.
Around the rear side of the flats is a concrete balcony for the residents to use which faces North East.
Between 5-6pm on the evening of a pleasant day in either June or July Malcolm stepped out onto the balcony for a cigarette. Due to the time of year it was still fully light in the sky. It was dry and there were very few clouds in the sky. Malcolm cannot recollect whether it was still or whether there was a light breeze.
He was staring off the balcony to the North East. Roughly 150 feet away is a line of tall trees. Suddenly an object emerged through the upper branches of the these trees. It was moving quite fast, and initially Malcolm thought it was a bird. But he quickly realised this was not the case. The object was flattened equilateral triangular in shape, and was a grey silver colour. It had no markings visible on its smooth surface. Its edges were clearly defined and corners curved. It appeared to be quite small, no bigger than 10 feet across.
It was flying at low altitude, only about 20-30 feet higher than the balcony. Malcolm watched as the UFO/UAP quickly approached on a straight and level course. As it got closer he realised it was completely silent. As it passed nearly overhead he felt a tingling sensation coming from it similar to static electricity. It then moved over the roof of the flats and was lost from sight.
In total Malcolm had observed the object for roughly 10-15 seconds. For its size it had seemingly moved very quickly, and it had appeared to be a controlled and under powered flight as opposed to a drifting object such as a balloon. After finishing his cigarette he went back inside and told Lynne about what he had just seen.
Second Sighting
About a week later, Malcolm and Lynne were both out on the balcony chatting with a friend. It was between 4.30-5pm and once again a pleasant day. Lynne happened to glance up into the sky. Almost directly overhead she saw the same object her husband had previously informed her about – a small silver coloured triangle.
It was higher up in the air this time, but lower than a light aircraft would fly at. It was moving on the same course as before. She only witnessed it a couple of seconds as it was moving very rapidly and quickly moved out of sight. As Malcolm was in the middle of conversation she did not mention the sighting at the time, but once their friend had departed she let him know.
Sightings Analysis
It is intriguing that both Malcolm and Lynne saw the same (or a very similar) object a week apart from the same location. It is quite rare for UFO/UAPs to be seen multiple times in the same vicinity.
The UFO/UAP approached from the North East. It should be noted that Birmingham International Airport resides 4 miles in that direction, although this may have been nothing more than coincidence.
Malcolm informed me that he and Lynne would regularly see aircraft pass overhead on take off from the airport. This means they were both familiar with how normal aeroplanes would look at different heights and weather conditions.
Unfortunately due to the fact that it occurred 5 years ago I am unable to check Flight Radar 24 to confirm whether aircraft were present in the sky at that time. Due to its appearance, low altitude in the initial sighting and apparent small size I feel that an aeroplane can be discounted.
The object not perform any manoeuvres which would indicate it was under intelligent control. Malcolm feels that its path was too direct for it to have been a balloon drifting on an air current. There was no drifting from its course or rotation at any point during either of the sightings.
The distance between the flat balcony and the tall trees to the North East is approximately 150 feet, and on the initial sighting it took 10-15 seconds to fly overhead and pass out of sight. If it was at low altitude as Malcolm believes it was this means it was moving at between 7-10 mph.
There is also the fact that he sensed static electricity as the object passed overhead. Neither Lynne nor her husband or friend felt this with the second sighting, but she confirmed that it was higher up this time so perhaps was out of range to detect this.
Although a balloon caught in a stable air current could conceivably be responsible for what was observed, the sensation Malcolm felt in the initial sighting is hard to explain, and points towards this being something more unusual. If it was a genuine advanced craft of some kind then perhaps it was performing reconnaissance of the area, hence the reason it was observed on two separate occasions.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025
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