A UFO has been captured on film above Ashbourne’s Recreation Ground and experts believe it may be rare footage of an unusual phenomenon.
News Telegraph reader Michael Hope-Smith filmed a recent Ashbourne Rugby Club First XV game against Southwell on the Recreation Ground and was amazed at what he saw when editing the footage.
At one point in the video, for a split second, an object can be seen travelling across the frame at extremely high speed and Mr Hope- Smith said he cannot explain what might be flying so fast.
He said: “When going through the footage frame by frame I became confused by what I initially presumed was the ball suddenly being kicked high into the air, as I wound back, I realised it wasn’t the ball but something else.
“I then studied the images and the footage and I couldn’t work out what it was, I was left with the only option but to consider it a UFO — after all it was unidentified, it was flying and it was an object.
“I have had a bit of stick on this by family and friends, but as no-one can really offer a reasonable explanation I remain quite open minded.
“An aircraft doesn’t travel at that speed, not any we know of anyway, a bird certainly doesn’t fly that quick and an insect doesn’t fly in such a straight line.” UFO expert Omar Fowler, from Derby’s Phenomenon Research Association, analysed the video for the News Telegraph and says he thinks the object is a “flying rod” — a rare piece of footage captured by digital cameras that some believe is a manifestation of alien visitors.
More plausible explanations for the flying rod phenomenon suggest that it is an image caused by camera technology capturing a flying insect, but such recordings are rare.
Mr Fowler explained: “The fast moving object seen moving rapidly across the screen is what has been termed a ‘flying rod’ and these have been filmed all over the world.
“The last prominent UK sighting was on the BBC Look North television programme on August 6, 2009, when a BBC webcam overlooking the Millenium Bridge at Gateshead captured a fast moving ‘flying ‘rod’ object streak across the screen behind BBC presenter Colin Briggs and into the sky.” Mr Fowler added that UFO activity has increased in Derbyshire recently and one of the most convincing sightings had been sent in by a father and son who spotted a strange airborne object while fishing near Melbourne.
Mr Hope-Smith, who estimates that the object his camera recorded might have been travelling at more than 10,000mph, says he is not convinced the object he filmed is an insect — but asserted he does not believe in little green men.
He said: “I will go as far as saying it’s something else that we simply don’t know anything about or even comprehend flying in the sky — an unidentified, flying object.”
