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Images Mike Callahan Copyright 2009

As I was able to go into this formation quite early I carried out a very satisfactory field report. It is only just noticeable from the road and it was more luck than judgement that I found it without wasting too much time. I have spent many hours playing ‘hide and seek’ with the circles.

This was an enjoyable formation to visit and there were a few features that interested me. To begin with it was much smaller than most of the ones we have seen this year. It lacked the vastness of the one at Wootton Rivers, but size isn’t everything. On entering the formation I noticed that the lay went anti-clockwise. It went in this direction for the first two paths around it. It was crunchy underfoot and not flat. Certainly, nothing like the flatness at Wootton Rivers. Generally the lay seemed neat and there was more than the odd standing stem.

As I went deeper into the formation, the lay went clockwise. I found the spiral features fascinating and again there was a clockwise lay in these. Getting down at ground level there was a lovely sweeping and energising flow throughout with nice curves! However, at corners, rather than flow around, the wheat often seem pushed up against the standing crop, sometimes layered.

Looking closely at the crop, there was a lot of breakage considering it had relatively few visitors. I checked for nodal elongations and bending but could find no evidence of this. Neither could I see any expulsion cavities. There were some blackened nodes, but I believe these to be fungus and not to be confused with expulsion cavities. Also, I found the white ‘chip marks’.

What was interesting was what was found on closer examination of the lay. As I said, it tended to flow clockwise as I went into the centre area more. In patches, there were small areas where the wheat went the other way. It wasn’t across the whole of the width of the lay, but about 20-25 stems thick. Basically, the lay was 1.5metres width but in the middle of the path abut 20-25 stems would flow the other way for a short distance. This would peter out after a metre or two. It was in more than one place. I have seen this before but not too recently. This can be seen in the photograph with the blue pencil.

The other interesting information was I talked to a friendly couple with a magnetometer. He said that there a higher reading than some recent formations but there was little difference in the readings outside and inside the formation.

An enjoyable visit to another fascinating formation with a good ‘energy’ to it.

© Mike Callahan www.wiltshiretours.com