UFO photographed over Leeds Bradford Airport

Date and time of sighting: 8 April 2026 13:10:00

Sighting Location: Wakefield, close to J41 of the M1

Number of objects seen: 1

Witness written account: An aircraft flew overhead on its way to Leeds Bradford Airport, which made me look up. As the aircraft passed overhead, I became aware of a small white, slightly glistening object at a much higher altitude, which appeared to be moving. It changed directions several times before moving away to the West and after that I lost sight of the object. I observed it for a maximum of two minutes at 13:10 today, 08/04/2026 at Wakefield, close to J41 of the M1. I managed to take one photo of the object with my phone and then I attempted to take video footage, but by then it was too late and the object had disappeared from view. When I reviewed my photo, the resolution is not very good, due to the distance and altitude. However, what was unusual is that there are two objects on my photo. One closer and larger, which I did not see with the naked eye and another further away, which I believe to be the one I was looking at. Both objects look dark in colour, which doesn’t match what I saw with the naked eye, but I’m not sure whether my phone camera would be capable of capturing the detail at such extreme range. I was using my iPhone 17.

BUFORA Evaluation: Thank you for submitting your sighting report & photograph to us at BUFORA, and many thanks for your kind donation to our voluntary organisation.

Your case has been passed to myself for evaluation. I have viewed your photograph and read your written report a few times, and am now ready to share my thoughts with you as to what it may have been that you observed on that occasion.

Firstly, it would appear that this sighting is slightly complex, and the photo shows what you describe as "unusual” doesn't match" with what you remember seeing. But I think that can be explained....

Silvered foil helium balloons can indeed reach high altitudes and reflect the sunlight, so where you mention your two work colleagues who also saw the object and you say "They initially dismissed it as a helium balloon at a great height, (a) but balloons are carried by the wind in one direction and this object changed direction more than once".  And then (b) "Both objects look dark in colour, which doesn’t match what I saw with the naked eye", I'm just wondering if those apparent discrepancies may be due to:-

a) ‎Yes I agree that helium balloons are carried by the wind, but your written account states the wind strength as "Still" (although that would be at ground level). The air currents can and do change with altitude, and it would not be unreasonable to consider that slight air currents were present at altitude (when reported still at ground level) and these slight currents may change direction or swirl, such that a helium balloon might be observed to move around a bit, and even back on itself rather than on the 'more usual' linear trajectory.

b) Foiled helium balloons come in all sorts of colours, so maybe it was a black or dark grey one? These dark coloured foiled balloons would also reflect the sun when their angle was in the correct orientation between the Sun and the observer, and when not glinting/reflecting sunlight would appear dark to the eye and in a photograph.

Therefore, in my opinion the "slightly glistening object" that "changed direction more than once" could have been the same object that later "looked dark in colour", especially if it were a dark coloured helium foil balloon.

Now the other "unusual" thing that you mention is that there are 2 'objects' in your photo - "One closer and larger, which I did not see with the naked eye and another further away, which I believe to be the one I was looking at". 

So if we take the further object to be the one you were initially concentrating on, let us consider what could the other 'closer larger' dark object be? Zooming in on (both of) the object(s) does not reveal any surface detail or true outline shape due (as you mention) due to limitations of the phone camera and pixelation at that distance, even with the very good 48MP capability of your iPhone 17, but what we have seen many times at BUFORA is that there are two very common potential causes for small dark objects that were not noticed by eye at the time appearing in photographs and these are 1) an unnoticed bird in the background and 2) a flying insect close to the camera lens. 

It is difficult to determine which of the two is most likely in this photograph, due partly to perspectives making both objects appear a similar size, although a close flying insect often appears as a 'streak' due to its rapid angular travelled distance across the frame, but in this case the fast shutter speed of 1/5814th second from the metadata would be fast enough to freeze its motion, so my thoughts are that it's most like to be an insect flying past close to the lens?

So, in summary: Although it is difficult to make a definitive positive identification of the mystery object that you observed, my thoughts are that its appearance, motion and disappearance are all consistent with it being a dark coloured foil helium balloon, so this could easily be what it was. And the 'secondary unseen by eye' larger/closer dark object appearing in the photograph is most likely to be a small flying insect close to the camera lens.

(witness photo of two unknown objects)

I do hope that this evaluation has been of some help to you?

Kind regards

Mark Easen

BUFORA Investigations.