CROP CIRCLES IN 1999

Image by  Peter Sorensen's Homepage

This formation has been known to be at Upavon (within sight of the golf course) for several days, but because it is inside the military air exclusion zone, we have been unable to fly it until now.

My partner, Ulrich Kox shot the picture with my DV camera, after his microlight pilot obtained special permission to fly into the area
for 5 minutes only!

Reported Peter Sorensen.

FIELD REPORT

Pole shots by Stuart Dike Copyright 1999

Click on Thumbnails to enlarge

A certain number of formations each year, are sometimes very hard to locate on the ground, as this particular event near Pewsey proved to be. As we had to obtain permission to fly over Military air space, locating this formation on the ground was extremely hard. We knew it was located near a Golf Course, but you are unable to spot it from the road. Our only access was driving into the Golf Club, and parking in their own Car Park.

Luckily Pole Photographers look very much like keen Golfers, both sets carrying a huge bag on their back. Perhaps the members thought we were about to play an 18 hole course, when all of the equipment came out of the car, it would have been a safer option, as we were about to learn how Harrison Ford felt playing Indiana Jones all those years back in the eighties!

The formation was located quite some distance into the field, and judging which tramline to walk down wasn’t easy, as they twisted and turned down the field. So there we were, Mark, myself, and a keen Croppie Dave Tarr, walking into the field, which at this time of the year was extremely ripe. About 200 yards into the field, I turned around within the tramline to see if everyone was OK, (as I was leading) when to my horror I looked down at my trousers. No less than three Spiders had quite happily been crawling over me, obviously been brushed off the side plants within the Tramline. Well, anyone who has a nervous disposition with all things eight legs, you can imagine the cries of panic as I frantically brushed them off me.

Never have we experienced so many large Spiders within a field before, and the extra 50 odd yards to the formation was not a journey I would recommend. When we finally arrived at the formation, I placed my gear onto the floor, and looked up at Dave, who at this time had another five spiders on his leg, and one behind is ear, as he flicked it onto the ground.

The formation itself was quickly regarded as another optical illusion designs, which has been a major theme for the 1999 season. The latest pattern could be viewed in two ways. If you look upon it from directly above, it would appear to be a standard star pattern, but look again on a side view, it then it become the same pattern but three dimensional. The Hexagonal shape in the centre is the main feature with the six triangular section creating the three dimensional effect.

The floor construction was fair, it was a few days old when we arrived, but enough to hold an opinion on the quality of the construction. A small outer pathway outlined the triangular sections for the central pattern, with each section pointing towards each apex corner on the Hexagon.

The outer sections of crop, surrounding the inner design, had a two directional flow, and the larger of the perimeter shapes, had a radius of 32 ft, with the overall diameter of the whole formation at around 126ft across.

We were all dreading the journey back to the cars, and indeed our fears were justified, as more Spiders decided to hitch a ride with us, but I can assure you I was not leading the way this time!

Report by Stuart Dike

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