Peculiar lights over the Cairngorms—genuine footage or balloon cluster?

A friend of my brother's captured some video last Saturday (Feb 18th) around 22:45 near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands. Weather was clear, no moon, decent visibility. The footage shows three distinct points of light moving in an unusual pattern - not linear, but almost... coordinated? They seem to maintain formation while moving.

I've examined the video frame-by-frame and I'm genuinely unsure what I'm looking at. The movement is too deliberate for weather balloons, but the light signature is consistent with something at medium altitude. Could be Chinese lanterns but the formation-keeping is suspicious. Could be aircraft but the movement pattern doesn't match normal flight paths.

I've uploaded stills below. Apologies for the compression artifacts - original footage is on a drive. Would love some proper analysis from the experienced folks here before we get excited about anything.

Those are absolutely Chinese lanterns. Look at the colour temperature - warm white consistent with combustion. The 'formation' you're seeing is just perspective and atmospheric refraction making them appear closer together than they are. If you measure the angular separation and apply some basic trigonometry you'll see they're probably several kilometres apart. Classic case of pareidolia making us see pattern in random phenomena.

I disagree with the lantern hypothesis. The light signature is too uniform and the movement pattern is too precise. I've analysed probably 60 genuine UFO videos over the last decade and this has characteristics I've only seen in confirmed unknown phenomena. The way they maintain that perfect triangular formation while shifting horizontally suggests intelligent control. Not saying aliens, just saying unexplained.

Have you checked what aircraft were operating in that airspace that evening? Could cross-reference with flight tracking data. Before jumping to unknown craft, always rule out conventional aviation first. There's military activity in the Highlands fairly regularly and the newer jets have some weird lighting configurations that can look genuinely odd on video.

The Cairngorms have a long history of sightings. I've got documentation going back to the 1950s of similar formations. This area sits on something - whether it's a ley line, a dimensional thin spot, or just a favourite alien observation post, I don't know - but the frequency of activity there is undeniable. Your video fits the pattern perfectly. Good catch documenting it.