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INTERNATIONAL CROP CIRCLES OF 2000 |
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Ashern, Manitoba, Canda. Reported Mid June.
Updated Monday 31st July 2000
A ground photo of one of the rings.
Image © Chris Rutkowski.
CIRCLES IN MANITOBA
Ashern, Manitoba
Mid-June, 2000
Preliminary Report - July 16, 2000
On July 8, while in St. Paul, Alberta I received word during the conference from Fern Belzil of some new circles reported on the CBC radio news the
previous evening, near Ashern, Manitoba. I wasn't able to send out this report until after I returned home on the 13th, at which time I found I had
received a confirming e-mail report from Chris Rutkowski of Ufology Research of Manitoba.
Five doughnut shaped rings, including one "half-crescent", averaging about 15 feet diameter, in pasture vegetation (wild grass, bear berry
and Saskatoon bushes). First found by bird-watchers in mid-June, the rings appeared to be fairly old, perhaps 6 to 12 months, and appear as a
darkening of the vegetation, not flattened as in typical crop circles, making them more like "old-style" UGMs (Unidentified Ground Markings).
The circles are in a remote area east of Ashern, which is north of Winnipeg.
This report is similar to the Willmar, Saskatchewan rings reported June 19. On a perhaps related note, while in Alberta I visited the site of the
large Edmonton #2 crop formation of last year with Judy Arndt, who did the ground surveys and sampling last September. The barley field,
(still infested with thistles!), exhibited an interesting change in the colour and physical nature of the plants in the area where the formation
had been several months before. The young barley plants in this area were of a pronounced lighter shade of green and stood straighter than
those in the rest of the field. It was not clear whether these changes were simply caused by the plants in last year's crop having been flattened and
"matted" in these areas, affecting available moisture and sunlight, or if there is another cause involved. Nancy Talbott of the BLT Research Team
will also be going out to inspect this field this weekend, having just returned from a
side trip to Saskatchewan. A beautiful canola field lies next to the barley field (the canola fields are in full flower right now), and
while both driving around St. Paul and flying (to and from Edmonton) I had the chance to observe many such fields in the area, but no new circles
yet to be seen (again, though most circles are not found here until later in the summer, in August / September). The canola field is also adjacent to
a cemetery which Judy and I had to cut through to get to the other end of the unfenced part of the field (and yes, we had permission to enter the
fields, which I advise everyone to do beforehand). Many good examples of fungus rings were seen on the
cemetery grounds, averaging about 3 or 4 feet in diameter and filled with mushrooms, which helps in
determining these from future crop circles (some previous cases had
been initially reported by farmers to be crop circles, which then turned out to be fungus rings).
While in St. Paul, I also had the opportunity, along with Nancy Talbott and others, to visit some of the other farmers in the area, who were quite open
about the crop circle, cattle mutilation and UFO phenomena which are all quite common these days on the Canadian prairies. There is also a report
of another farmer in southern Saskatchewan who found between twenty and thirty crop circles in his wheat field last year, which were not initially
reported at the time. If confirmed, this would be the 21st (known) formation reported for 1999. Further details when available.
Paul Anderson
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