Halewick Park, Sompting, West Sussex. Reported 10th August.

The first Sussex formation of 2000 not to be made up largely of circles, this is an attractive design of six standing petals revolving around a circle with three further standing petals within (a little like a radiation symbol). Overlooking the civic amenity site (ie. rubbish tip!) on the border of Lancing, the pattern is tucked into the north east corner of a wheat field first visited by a single circle in 1994. It is just visible from the A27 near the Hill Barn Garage crossroads, but is best seen from the road leading to the tip.

Judging from the crop recovery, the pattern must have formed several days prior to the date of our first report listed above, but we have no confirmation of this.

The crop is laid largely clockwise, with the 5’ wide paths (making the large 30’ x 81’ standing petals) spinning outwards from the centre, though the three flattened central areas are swept inwards, forming a rather nice triple meeting point in the very middle. The smaller inner petals are an average of 28’ across, while the overall diameter of the formation is around 140’.

Around several edges, there are excellent examples of individual wheat stems which have been swept into the lay of the formation from behind standing unaffected stalks, which rather rule out any mechanical implement having been crudely wielded. It is as if whatever force lays the crop has trickled outwards slightly into the standing crop, pulling down selected stems, a remarkable phenomenon observed many times before in other formations, yet researchers often neglect to check for it. This effect was widely distributed across the design.

Sompting has been host to many crop formations in the past 10 years.

Survey conducted (separately) by Andy Thomas and Allan Brown for Southern Circular Research.

On my way to work this morning at 8am I felt compelled to look up at a particular field above Sompting. In the far corner of the field I spotted what looked like a crop formation, although I only caught sight of it for a split second. On my way home this evening at 6.15pm I drove up to the field and had a closer look. It appears to be a circular pattern with petals traced in the crop. Exact location: field above Halewick Park at the end of Halewick Lane, Sompting, West Sussex.10th August 2000.