Blanford Forum, nr Shaftesbury, Dorset. Reported 21st June
Updated Friday 3rd July 1998
Copyright 1998 Colin Andrews
Field Report
Regarded as one of the major formations to appear so far, this very large design appeared close to the A350 ring road around the Town of Blandford. The shape itself was a combination of previous years as well as the present.
The design consisted of 5 rings in total surrounding a 20ft central circle. Positioned on the second ring out from the centre, were 12 "Flames" very similar to the Beltane Wheel at West Kennett Longbarrow. In May of this year. These 12 sections flowed out into the third ring, and both were flowing in a clockwise rotation.
What was so fascinating about this design, is that it brought me back to the season of 1995, when we had the "Astrobelt" designs, with their surrounding rings of circles. Again very similar to those formations, this pattern consisted of 40 circles set around the fourth outer ring. Each circle was about 7ft in diameter, and they were all flowing in anticlockwise rotation. The fifth and most outer ring was only about 1.5 ft in width flowing again in an anticlockwise direction.
The overall diameter of the formation was about 200ft; it was positioned on the brow of the field, so you can only see half of it at certain positions, which made photographing it extremely difficult from the ground.
The floor construction wasn't particular impressive, but then again, young wheat always tents to look messy, and the formation was a few days old at this time. What I did noticed was the presence of mud on the stems at particular points within the formation. The circles surrounding the formation had mud on their upper leaves, in places were people wouldn't normally walk when visiting. This was also noticeable in the central circle, with its anticlockwise rotation.
So here we have a formation in an area not normally associated with crop circles, and yet we have similarities from 1995 and features from this year. Interesting that the number 12 is becoming a recurring number within the 1998 designs. Its significance may become more apparent as the season progresses, as I feel this number will show itself again in future designs within the month of July. The 1998 season is truly taking us down memory lane, as we have seen overtones from many of the nineties seasons I'm sure we haven't seen the last of them, as we approach the most spectacular month of the season, not just for the circles, but for possible new discoveries in other count.
Report by Stuart Dike.
