CROP CIRCLES IN 1999

Pole shots by Stuart Dike Copyright 1999

Click on Thumbnails to enlarge

The crop fields between Avebury and Calne, have been a focus for the crop circles for many years, with a number of formations in different guises, but this latest design has to rank as one of the best to form in this part of the Avebury landscape.

This formation was a great surprise, we had spent most day driving around  Wiltshire  area in hope of finding a formation to report on. It had been over two weeks since the last event, and things were getting rather dull, and our depression was sinking in fast. We had decided to drive along the A4 road between Beckhampton and Calne, this was the Circlemakers last chance to surprise us…. Oh Boy!

So there it was, placed some distance from the road, very close to Windmill Hill, in the field opposite the exquisite Triangle formation from last year. This is truly an amazing design, in extremely young green Barley, which has a wonderful fluid quality on a breezy day in Wiltshire.

The design is approximately 200ft in diameter, possibly more, with a very large central circle with an anticlockwise rotation. The centre has a starburst feature, but many of the plants inside the circle, and around the main perimeter section are still standing. The central circle also has twelve arms coming off, which meander into single and twin arms for scroll designs, eighteen in number. The pathways are only about 2ft in width, but flow into the scroll, creating from the air, a flower pattern, very similar to the design in Countesthorpe, near Wigston, Leicestershire in 1998. In fact, this design in Avebury Trusloe, is almost a twin to Countesthorpe, but not quite so elaborate. Please compare them yourselves, you will see what I mean.

Around the outer perimeter there are over twenty circles all flowing in a clockwise rotation, but these individual circles must be viewed to appreciate their intricate starburst centres. The photographs show the quality of the flattened plants, and indeed the central circle also has the same type of centre.

The plants themselves were not broken, there was no evidence of mud scrapings on the stem, but many plants remained standing, possibly unaffected by the nature of the circle making force. But at this stage in the season, the Barley will recover rapidly, as this formation may have formed on the Saturday 22^nd, possibly in the early hours of Sunday morning the 23^rd May.

The location within the field was very close to a public footpath, so entry is quite easy, but this ancient landscape close the Hillfort of Windmill is covered with well known ley lines, possibly part of the Avebury complex. Many of the fields around this area have been used by the Circlemakers, but this particular field has never been used before, and is slightly facing towards the footpath, on a shallow incline.

Both Mark and myself were very impressed with this formation, we feel it’s the best design to have appeared so far, with regard to its complexity of design and the quality of the floor pattern. It is very similar to Countesthorpe, but not with so many scrolls as features, but I’m sure it will be regarded as one of the best of the 1999 season.

Report by Stuart Dike

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