This clearly demonstrated that Image A had been manipulated in order to obscure or obliterate the blue annotations shown in Image B. This demonstrates that Image A and Image B were originally one and the same. This is rather a crude method of conducting such an operation as other options would normally be utilised by a skilled image editing operator. In order to follow due process I next imported Image B into GIMP. I examined the Exif and XMP data and found that the Image Creation Date was identical to Image A showing a date of 18th May, 2011 at 23:10:59hrs. I would normally, in instances of such comparisons, overlay Image B on Image A to ascertain that the areas of manipulation were a match. In the case of these two images I did not find that necessary. It was amply obvious that I was looking at the same images. The fit for the blue text annotations matched as closely as could be expected between the two images. The above information and the fact that the Exif Data matched were more than sufficient evidence to establish that these two images were essentially the same. The original Image A had been altered to remove the blue text annotations. My findings are as follows: Both images contained the same document ID: xmpMM:DocumentID rdf:resource='adobe:docid:photoshop:cf5f3035-8335-11e0-b83a-e3c42e9b278d' Image A and Image B originated from the same source. A person or persons unknown has/have removed the blue text annotation from Image A. Both images were initially created on 18th May, 2011 at 23:10:59hrs from the same camera/software.

UK UFO SIGHTINGS was not the only place in which the image appeared on the Internet. Here are screenshots of three versions of the orange sphere UFO found on Twitter with similar claims of authorship below each.

The orange sphere UFO image is also included on UFO Shropshire's Wrekin Hill Crop Circle gallery page. The same image appears twice in the gallery. Clicking on each of the images in the UFO Shropshire website gallery will display the corresponding full-size images. Once open, the large images both display the words: "Wrekin Hill Crop Circle - July 2012 - Darren Perks"

It would seem that the photo of the orange sphere UFO that was claimed to have been taken on the night of the 21st July 2012 at approximately 23:30h is indeed the very same image that was provided to me by Mr. Hoyle with an embedded file modified date of 18th May 2011 at 23:10:59h. When we watched the referenced Youtube Video of the Wrekin crop circle uploaded by UFO Shropshire it did seem a bit odd to us that no mention was made of the orange sphere UFO that had allegedly been photographed on that very night - the 21st July 2012 at approximately 23:30hrs. One might think that such an occurrence would be mentioned in the video narrative if it had indeed been recorded as stated using a fuji bridge camera 14mp on a tripod. What if the two incidents were related? Would it not make sense to refer to the orange sphere UFO? Note that the witness states in a comment under his submission to UK UFO SIGHTINGS: Is it coincidence that this UFO is moving in the area and then bamm! a new crop circle appears right out of the blue. However, as we have now discovered, the orange sphere UFO was recorded on a completely different date - May 18 2011 at around 22:00h in Yardro, Powys. The image was taken from a video recording, overlaid with blue text and sent with a embedded file time of 23:10:59h on the night of 18th May 2011 at 23:32h via email to Mr. Phil Hoyle. See also: The Case of the Bright Sphere UFO - Alamo, Nevada (same submitter) Xpose UFO Truth 7th January 2013 UPDATE 14th February 2013 We later found that the orange sphere image was also submitted to Latest UFO Sightings website by "Darren." Note in the text of the report (screenshot below) that the spelling of "regularly" is incorrect - i.e. "regulary" - just as it was in the "Kerry Lee" comment on the alleged Alamo sphere event report page on LUFOS. This comment was viewed by Sheriff Lee as an impersonation of a police officer - i.e. himself - the Sheriff of Lincoln County, Nevada, Sheriff's Office, during our telephone interview with him. Please see the Alamo page for the full story. Note also that "Darren" claims that he took the orange sphere image on his Fuji bridge camera. The information provided by the real photographer shows a completely different model of camera. There is also the slight discrepancy of approximately fourteen months between the real event near Yardro and the fake event near the Wrekin. Image submitted to LUFOS     Report on LUFOS UPDATE 15th February 2012 Today, while checking back through my links on our Orange Sphere hoax here, I just noticed that Darren has removed the orange sphere image from his Picasa gallery. With the removal of said image also gone is the metadata showing the real date upon which the file was created by the real photographer. Not to worry though! As usual we took screenshots of all the images and they can be seen further up this page. Note again that the person who created the file (from his own 18th May 2011 video footage) labelled up his "still" with green/blue text to indicate that it was taken near Yardro on 18th May 2011. Perks then removed the text and claimed that he had taken the image on his Fuji bridge camera on 21st July 2012. Darren Perks has not yet removed the orange sphere images from his Twitter gallery though. Click on the cropped screenshot below to see the full size version taken on 15th February 2013. (NOTE: Please see update below for 19th February 2013 regarding the Twitter images.) UPDATE 19th February 2013 The orange sphere images have been mostly removed from Twitter save one, and empty spots remain. However the alternate text is still visible: 27th February 2013 I have posted a comment on the Wrekin Hill Shropshire 21st July 2012 report at UK UFO Sightings. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS This case of the orange sphere UFO was, in our opinion, one degree worse than the Case of the Alamo Sphere because the image used in this instance was originally captured by another individual and not Perks. Why did Perks claim that the orange sphere image was taken by him when it was taken by another photographer more than a year previously? And why did he fabricate the Alamo sphere image and report to MUFON? What motivates people to create hoaxes, especially those people claiming to be "investigative researchers?" How does such fakery enhance one's reputation? Should Perks feel that he has been unjustly represented in this article we await his writing to us to explain the situation. 12th March 2013 On 12th March 2013 Trystan Swale published an article regarding Darren Perks and his analysis of the crop formation that he visited at the Wrekin. The article was later lost but is still available via the web archive. Trystan's article commences by saying: "UFO investigator Darren Perks has been discussed in the last two episodes of my podcast Fortean Radio. He stands accused of faking UFO photos and reports as a means of furthering his own reputation. Appropriately enough, Perks was the investigator of a crop circle that appeared at The Wrekin, Shropshire, in the summer of 2012. He made some quite extraordinary claims about the circle that are well worth examining in turn." Darren Perks and the Wrekin crop circle REVIEW - 6th July 2013 On 27th July 2012, Darren Perks published a video that he had recorded at the Wrekin crop formation in Shropshire on 24th July 2012. Click on the image below to view the video. Perks made the video private yesterday and will probably continue the games. However, we have a copy that we can provide to anyone who, for some very remote reason, might want to view the video. It is just Perks rambling on about the "formation" not being made by humans. A lot of words about almost nothing. It is of note though that he makes no mention of the orange sphere UFO that he claimed to have captured with his Fuji Bridge Camera on the night of the 21st July 2012. Odd that. NOTE: Link to above video is now defunct. Perks recently closed his Youtube account: I have always found it curious why Perks, in his video narrative, never mentioned the orange sphere UFO image that he had allegedly captured on the night of the 21st July 2012. He recorded the video on the 24th July 2012, only three days after supposedly capturing the image on camera. Why the omission? Had he forgotten about the image? Or had the fabrication not occurred to him at that stage? The text under the video on Youtube is as follows, also with no mention of the image. Note that I have broken the text down into paragraphs for slightly easier reading. Published on Jul 27, 2012 "This official video was filmed by Darren Perks a UFO Investigator on 24th July 2012. The Wrekin Hill crop circle appeared between the hours of 2330 and 0630 on 21st and 22nd July 2012. It consists of one main circle with three inner patterns which relate to Saturn, Mars and the star Spica aka Spitor. Just outside the Northern edge of the formation were three semi circle faint patterns which represented the moons transit in the sky in relation to the two planets and the star. The crop circle is an exact mirror image of the July night sky in 2012 for the planets and star and their respective positions. The circle is thought to have been some kind of message or indication to an 'event' that could take place between 25th July and 7th August 2012. That event we do not know but it is highly likely that its astronomical related and could also relate to a major event on the planet, such as an earthquake or volcanic eruption. This film was recorded in real time by Darren Perks to show people a crop circle in real time close up. Despite what skeptics say you don't need to be 'qualified' or an expert to research or investigate crop circles...."