Sighting in Le Havre, March 27, 2017

One evening, between 9:30 and 11 p.m., a witness was chatting with an acquaintance on the beach by the sea. For just a few seconds, they glimpsed five faintly glowing white points of light flying in a V formation. The lights were heading inland, toward the east, and the city lights quickly hid them from view.

The witness called out to the other person, but that person had no time to see the phenomenon, and the beach cabins also limited their line of sight. Only one account was therefore collected, in the form of a questionnaire sent to the GEIPAN.

The investigation found the account to be of low consistency, with little data, and noted no strong strangeness apart from what the witness felt at the time. The explanation retained was a small, isolated group of five birds flying in a V toward the east, with underside plumage reflecting the urban lights. The species cannot be determined: their small size, the distance and the brevity of the sighting kept the witness from making them out any better. The GEIPAN classified the case as A, birds being extremely probable.