I recently found an area not far from where I live that I had been aware of many years ago, but not as an adult with my thoughts on things that I have today...that I have found out or I believe is the highest Natural point on the South West town that is in a major city where I live in, as well as some other surrounding towns either side in all directions at least for 5 miles... Its not like a Mountainous area as such, I suppose you could say that the nearest major higher Hills are at least 10 to 15 miles away..
As it was Summer Solstice and the Longest day and a nice evening I went for an evening walk to watch the Sun set and to look around the surrounding view where you can see a LOT of things of interest around the area.. including towards a Major Airport also at least 10 miles away where you can see the aircraft flight path as they come from a far away distance as they gradually decline as they come into land..
What was a bit unusual was I had spotted two Kestrel's birds flying and hovering around and one kept flying in quite a large circular area around where I was stood that Id estimate maybe 1/4 a mile circumference..I was thinking as I watched it about the amount of energy that it must have been using as it flew from one spot to another and each time hovered stationary for maybe about a minute or more at each point..
It then went direct into the sun...I started then thinking about it looking a bit like a UFO as it hovered..
Later two people came along, looking like they wanted to have an evening picknick where id been stood on what id say was a type of concrete looking round table... that was infact something for a large water drain with a grid on it..
so I moved on a bit further to where there was a bit of a decline to a steep hill.. this gave a unobscurred view in a southerly direction without any trees or bushes being in the way..
At this point I started thinking how good this would be to see any possible UFOs that may appear towards the airport...as there have been some UFO sighting's both from aircraft as they approached the airport and at the airport..
Later I looked in the opposite direction as the Sun was starting to set and to my surprise, I spotted an unusual object in the sky..at a guess Id say no more than 2 miles away, maybe only less than 1 mile..
Initially it appeared to be coming towards me..At first I thought it may have been a helicopter as one does fly around the area often...but then as time went on over a few minutes, it slowly turned to the right and I decided no it was not that !...
It appeared at one stage to have a certain size and shape to it...
to try and describe is not easy, but if you recall in the movie ET where you see ET taking off on a bicycle... from the angle we see it at, you see 3 or 4 main parts as Id describe it..2 wheels, the boy and ETs body on the cycle...
see some of the images below ...and the smallest images of the cycles that you can see , only maybe 1/2 the size of the average smaller images..is something like what I could see at one point for maybe 20 seconds...as what ever the object was as it appeared to be turning right...as I was viewing it..
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ET&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=twWmU-qSDoexPI_vgegJ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=677#q=ET+bicycle&tbm=isch&imgdii=_
As the object turned, it then seemed to appear Round...maybe like a balloon....So I started to think maybe it was 3 or 4 balloons, but as the object turned it then looked just as one...
The object then later on seemed to almost stay stationary for several minutes..5 maybe even upto 15 minutes...as time soon passes when your looking at such a thing you do not realise ...It May or may not had either been moving away or towards me...But gradually it continued very slowly moving to the right...and gradually it seemed to get smaller..
The whole event probably lasted 30 to 40 minutes..maybe longer..
It may have been that the object was slowly moving right and away from me.. that would explain it appearing to get smaller..
As the sun set I could then see some haze, low clouds in the distance where I was looking as it allowed it to be seen , was as it was not easily visible in the prior brighter light conditions..then gradually I lost site of it... It may have gone into haze or low cloud....but the light also started to fade...
It was a relatively warm and calm evening, at least at ground level with a very slight breeze as the sun started setting...
I just wonder how long say a typical helium Balloon you may get at a fair or at Christmas may hover in the sky even in relatively calm Conditions ? as I assume that chances are this was what I observed..
I have however ,never seen a normal kids type of helium balloon in the sky take so long in one area...but that maybe as normally they pass over and disappear behind some object, building or trees..
Just wondered if anyone else has had any similar experiences ?
In the Direction of the setting Sun, there is another small Airport...Id guess 3 to 4 miles away in the opposite direction to the object that I observed....To My surprise, I could see in the silhouette of the setting sun, I could see someone on a Hang glider...Generally the small airport would be very quite in terms of any small aircraft flying, but I suspect that it may seem a bit risky if someone was using a hang glider near a airport...It may have been some how they had been lifted up by some means at the small airport...I think I may had seen one in that area in the past..there are no high points near by where one would take off from...that to me seemed rather a unusual coincidence that I should see this just after the other object disappeared and the sun was about to set..
I did think at one point that maybe the object that I saw was a hang glider...maybe it could have been...but from the direction that it was coming from, There appear No suitable high points that I would expect for an hang glider to take off... and this was more towards the direction of a Major airport that may seem a bit risky although height wise and position wise it did not seem in the main flight path...
But I have never seen a hang glider ever around the area that I observed this object in many years..
The other thing was that the Hang glider that I observed did make various changes in its direction and its shape seemed more consistent...
although maybe hanggliders may not always appear the same from various directions one observes it from.. or as it may turn...full on it may look like an umbrella, and some HGs may appear the same as it rotates...but other designs may look a different shape as they turn or rotate sidewards on...if you understand what I am trying to explain..
Although It may be possible I suspect that a Hang glider may be able to stay and hover in one location for quite some time if the conditions are right..