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MANY THOUGHTS OF PAST FORMATIONS AT NORTH DOWN
The escarpments of hills along the A361 towards
Beckhampton are rich in history for ancient settlements of the people who
made up the population of the Avebury landscape. But the 20th and 21st
century will see them
in a
different way, as we remember the crop circle
formations, not only of this particular area, but the entire local area
around Avebury. Indeed this Thought Bubble design on the very crest of the
hill provides an opportunity to look out on to this enigmatic landscape.
You begin to understand why our great poets and composers were influenced
heavily by the English landscape.
This particular design has been seen many times before. All
of us who are "old timers" in the crop circle world, will remember the season
of 1994 when we look at this formation. Indeed I can remember quite a few of
that year, that share the same characteristics of this 2002 formation. Many "Thought Bubbles" tend to place themselves on the brows of their respected
locations. The reason for this is not understood, and the formation at North
Down was positioned on a very steep gradient. So steep in fact, that if you
stand in the second circle down on its tail, you can not view the entire top
circle. It disappears over the top of the hill.
The plants around this mound were flowing in the opposite
direction to the rest of the floor.
The floor pattern of this formation was extremely neat, even
after a few days. But on closer inspection, a few unusual anomalies in the
floor lay became apparent. One of them, was an unusual small mound, which was
found in the top head circle. The plants around this mound were flowing in the
opposite direction to the rest of the floor. We are only talking about a
handful of plants, but it was a feature worth mentioning, as it totally defied
the general flow of the circle. Its this sort of detail, which needs to be
recorded, as this may occur in further formations.
I believe the direction of the circle process was disturbed
by the shear gradient of the hill
This year, I have has the pleasure to fly many of the
formations in the Wiltshire area. This also allows us to view any unusual
features of the design, which might provide further clues to their origin.
On flying this "Thought Bubble" you can see from the aerial shots, that the
tail on the formation is slightly offset from the top two circles. I
believe the direction of the circle process was disturbed by the shear
gradient of the hill itself. One can only appreciate this statement by
visiting the formation as you walk from the end of the tail to the top
circle. We have seen this type of disturbance before from formations that
has located themselves on steeps slopes, and indeed provides a detail that
shows that the circle process can 'slip' when in full motion on certain
gradients. This obviously means that the process is working with the full
forces of gravity, and confirms in my mind that it is by no means perfect
in its art. Perhaps this is not important in the frame scheme of things.
On reflection, this design was very pleasing in many ways,
and provided a beautiful backdrop and contemplation for the mind.
Report by Stuart Dike
Image Andrew King Copyright 2002
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