October 2010 - Chester – Silver Sphere Formation Sighting

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Year: 2014

Last Updated: 18/05/2025

Sighting Details

Unfortunately not much is known about this incident as after receiving the below initial annotated drawing I received no further correspondence from the witness:

As you can see, there is only limited information available. From the mock up they provided, it appears that the witness observed the objects in an area of forest while sitting outside during a work break. He initially observed a singular glowing orb of light moving in his direction. As it approached it suddenly split into 8 smaller orbs, which then continued to approach.

As the smaller orbs got closer the light coming from them dimmed and they then took on the appearance of rotating silver spheres. These spheres had visible lines on them separating them into sections, which reminded the witness of basketballs.

The witness did not provide any details regarding how long he observed these spheres for or how the sighting ended.

Sighting Analysis

To look at it from face value, this sighting could easily sound quite anomalous in nature, especially due to the splitting of the initial object and the appearance of the smaller objects when at closer range. However there is much which is not known, including the time of day and the manoeuvres of the objects throughout the sighting. It could be assumed that they moved in a controlled and intelligent manner but this has not been specifically stated.

If the sighting took place during daylight hours, one mundane explanation could be a group of drifting silver coloured balloons. Perhaps initially they were grouped closely together and reflecting sunlight brightly (which they would do if silver in colour). This could have created the impression of a singular bright orb of light.

Then after a short period of time the balloons could have naturally drifted apart, but still have continued to reflect light, giving the impression that the larger orb had split into smaller independent orbs.

As they got closer the glare from the reflected sunlight would have naturally died down (or perhaps the sun was hidden behind a cloud), which to the witness may have looked like the objects willingly turned lights off.

While the objects appeared to be spherical rather than the usual shape of balloons, silver-coloured novelty balloons cannot be fully ruled out. Maybe they were even from a basketball related celebration and were actually shaped like basketballs intentionally. The rotation of the smaller spheres could have been caused by drift in an air current.

All of the above said, there is the possibility that the sighting took place after dark, and the objects really were illuminated via lights which were then switched off. They may also have performed movements which showed them to be under intelligent control, which could immediately rule out the balloon explanation. Unless further information regarding this sighting comes to light we will probably have no way of knowing for certain whether the objects were mundane or not.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025