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| What was the mysterious black ring in Leamington Spa? | What was the mysterious black ring in Leamington Spa? |
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| A video of a mysterious black ring in the sky over Leamington Spa has left people scratching their heads. Just what might it be, asks Tom de Castella. | A video of a mysterious black ring in the sky over Leamington Spa has left people scratching their heads. Just what might it be, asks Tom de Castella. |
| The ring was reportedly captured by a 16-year-old schoolgirl on a smartphone after playing tennis with her mother. The ring - which appeared to be close to Warwick Castle - remained in the sky for around three minutes before vanishing, it has been reported. | The ring was reportedly captured by a 16-year-old schoolgirl on a smartphone after playing tennis with her mother. The ring - which appeared to be close to Warwick Castle - remained in the sky for around three minutes before vanishing, it has been reported. |
| Here are five possible explanations examined: | Here are five possible explanations examined: |
| 1. Video fakery | 1. Video fakery |
| Some have speculated about whether it would be possible to fake the ring. In theory you can fake most things, says Iain McArthur, an expert at Audio Video Forensics. For instance, the footage wobbles. You can fake this handheld look. But other elements seem to ring true, he says. There's a "blob" on the top right and top left of the ring, suggesting movement - "something organic", he says. It's not clear how far away the ring is from the smartphone. The video footage is blurred at the sides. But he doesn't think it is suspicious. "Initially it doesn't look like it's faked." It's not like other video of unexplained sightings - in particular the hazy edges to the black circle. "The blurring element is different from any UFO footage I've seen," McArthur says. | Some have speculated about whether it would be possible to fake the ring. In theory you can fake most things, says Iain McArthur, an expert at Audio Video Forensics. For instance, the footage wobbles. You can fake this handheld look. But other elements seem to ring true, he says. There's a "blob" on the top right and top left of the ring, suggesting movement - "something organic", he says. It's not clear how far away the ring is from the smartphone. The video footage is blurred at the sides. But he doesn't think it is suspicious. "Initially it doesn't look like it's faked." It's not like other video of unexplained sightings - in particular the hazy edges to the black circle. "The blurring element is different from any UFO footage I've seen," McArthur says. |
| 2. Meteorological phenomenon | 2. Meteorological phenomenon |
| Could it be a strange weather phenomenon? Not according to the Met Office. "There's no meteorological reason why it's happened. And there was nothing unusual happening in Leamington Spa that day, we've checked," a Met Office spokeswoman says. The shape is said to have remained in the sky for three minutes. And it's very rare that a cloud circle "that perfect" would remain without being blown away at that height. | Could it be a strange weather phenomenon? Not according to the Met Office. "There's no meteorological reason why it's happened. And there was nothing unusual happening in Leamington Spa that day, we've checked," a Met Office spokeswoman says. The shape is said to have remained in the sky for three minutes. And it's very rare that a cloud circle "that perfect" would remain without being blown away at that height. |
| 3. Insects | 3. Insects |
| Some insects swarm at certain times of year. And this is the most likely explanation, says Frederic Tripet, an entomologist at Keele University. The fuzziness of the black outline looks like insects leaving and joining the circle. One of the images has a very faint line curving up from below which could be insects arriving and departing, he believes. Another has what looks like a fly in the foreground, he says. "I think it's just masses and masses of flies in the sky and somehow they have created a ring." He's never seen this before but it is plausible, he says. | Some insects swarm at certain times of year. And this is the most likely explanation, says Frederic Tripet, an entomologist at Keele University. The fuzziness of the black outline looks like insects leaving and joining the circle. One of the images has a very faint line curving up from below which could be insects arriving and departing, he believes. Another has what looks like a fly in the foreground, he says. "I think it's just masses and masses of flies in the sky and somehow they have created a ring." He's never seen this before but it is plausible, he says. |
| "My best guess from the pictures would be that they are one of the strong-bodied and strong-flying hoverflies [Syrphidae family]," says Tripet. "When the winter is mild you can expect population explosions of some insects. They may be mating in that aggregation. Usually mating is not done as high and in ring formation but the unusual densities might have led to this peculiar flying formation." Bees do swarm but usually later in the year, he says. | "My best guess from the pictures would be that they are one of the strong-bodied and strong-flying hoverflies [Syrphidae family]," says Tripet. "When the winter is mild you can expect population explosions of some insects. They may be mating in that aggregation. Usually mating is not done as high and in ring formation but the unusual densities might have led to this peculiar flying formation." Bees do swarm but usually later in the year, he says. |
| 4. Birds | 4. Birds |
| A strange black cloud was captured over Leamington last year. It was a flock of starlings. Birds are known to fly in tight formations, such as a V-shape. Could this ring be starlings? The answer is no, says Richard James, wildlife adviser at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. "Starlings and waders can form fluid shapes. But they won't form a shape like this." You sometimes get a small number of buzzards circling around a thermal but it wouldn't resemble the Leamington ring. They would not be as close together. They're likely to be individually visible rather than an amorphous black mass, he says. "It's certainly not birds," he concludes. | |
| 5. Smoke or vapour | 5. Smoke or vapour |
| Could it be a smoke ring? Strange vapour formations sometimes occur in the sky. Smoke from a firework display or industrial pollution is another possibility. "It isn't smoke," says Tom Smith, secretary of the British Pyrotechnists Association. Smoke rings tend to keep their shape while simultaneously moving, he says. The smoke almost appears to turn over itself in a ripple effect. But the Leamington ring appears almost still, he says. And as with clouds, it's rarely so still that a smoke ring would remain intact for this long. | Could it be a smoke ring? Strange vapour formations sometimes occur in the sky. Smoke from a firework display or industrial pollution is another possibility. "It isn't smoke," says Tom Smith, secretary of the British Pyrotechnists Association. Smoke rings tend to keep their shape while simultaneously moving, he says. The smoke almost appears to turn over itself in a ripple effect. But the Leamington ring appears almost still, he says. And as with clouds, it's rarely so still that a smoke ring would remain intact for this long. |
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