For those unfamiliar with crop circles, they are patterns created by flattening a crop usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s. Although obscure natural causes or alien origins of crop circles have been suggested by fringe theorists, there is no scientific evidence for such explanations, and all crop circles are consistent with human-made items (although with the more elaborate ones, its not always possible to see how!)
Although such formations have appeared worldwide, south-west England is considered without doubt to be the “world capital” of crop circles. They are particularly concentrated in the county of Wiltshire (where i live), where a treasure trove of ancient history includes the Neolithic sites of Stonehenge and Avebury – both crop circle hotspots. There have been 380 crop circles recorded in the county alone since 2005.
I photographed 5 of them last year as part of a mini project while learning how to fly my shiny new drone. Images below are from the circles at Marten, Wilton, Normanton Down (next to Stone Henge), Etchilhampton and Banbury Rings (just over the border in Dorset).
I’m not offering an opinion - and I know there are cider drinkers in Devizes who claim responsibility for a lot of the crop circles, but…
A friend and colleague of mine was flying in the area, last thing in the evening, a summer evening, to check out a route for the following morning. All went well. The following morning he set off on his sortie and saw one of the largest and most intricate crop circles ever witnessed in a field he had flown over the evening before (this was about 25 years ago). His assessment was that if a coach load of people came in, just after he flew over the evening before, with floodlights and theodolites etc. they could probably not finish it even if they weren’t trying to be covert in making it.
Whilst crop circles are, in most cases, undeniably impressive works of geometric art and often logistically difficult to comprehend, they are surely just a human activity with nothing ET-ish about them. I love the mystery and intrigue that surrounds them but all have access points from the outside area (photo no.4 is a good example) sometimes like snail trials but often via the tractor tramlines. One never sees a crop circle in the centre of a wheat field that’s been farmed by old farming practises where tractor lines don’t exist.
