In a field of bearded wheat, bordered only by a footpath and no road, three single circles were discovered from the air by Michael Hubbard on the above date, though from the look of the crop, clearly nibbled by birds, they must have appeared around two weeks previously.

The three circles, all anticlockwise with averaged diameters of 42’, 26’ and 23’, lie around 80’ or so from each other in a roughly triangular configuration. Another 25’ circle lies 200’ to the south. Three paths have since been trampled down from the smallest circle, while the name ‘TOM’ has been crushed out nearby, but these are clearly additions by visitors and bear no resemblance to the quality of the neatly-swirled circles.

Curiously, the centre of the 42’ circle has clearly been burnt, with noticeable carbon blackening, but this could be due to visitors playing with fire as fragments of a cigarette packet lay in another circle. Incidentally, smoking is a very stupid thing to do in a field, for obvious reasons – several people have been seen with cigarettes in Wiltshire crop formations this year, which is not only somehow offensive in such beautiful surroundings and clear air, but also the sort of thing guaranteed to seriously anger farmers and put them off allowing people into formations. Have some sense, people!

The large circle has also had a small double pit dug in it for some unexplained reason, as if two large pieces of flint have been removed. By the soil spread on top of the lay, this clearly occurred sometime after the circle appeared.

Image MICHAEL HUBBARD Copyright 2000