With such an abundance of oil seed rape fields around during the spring of 2002, you'd think "The Circlemakers" would be spoilt for choice. Unusually though, only a couple of simple designs appeared early on in the UK, whilst Germany's many fields of the "yellow peril" seemed more in favour. Interestingly, Germany's often on the receiving end of some remarkable designs, and this year it proved to be a serious rival to the UK during the early part of the season.

Although we were off to a slow start, our patience was rewarded over the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend, when we found ourselves blessed with a couple of stunning formations in barley. The first appeared on 2nd June at Beckhampton, near Avebury in Wiltshire, close to a pair of mighty megaliths known as the Adam & Eve stones.

photo 1 - Beckhampton 2nd June

Beautifully etched in young barley, this was a six-fold Celtic ribbon knot, surrounded by an outer ring that featured 39 intricate fan-swirling circles.

The farmer, Mr Butler, has been on the receiving end of many formations over the years. Talking with him, as he was setting up an honesty box at the edge of the field, he was of the opinion that whilst he'd often suspected plank-wielding artists might be responsible, he simply couldn't rule out the possible involvement of other realities.

photo 2 - Silbury 4th June

First spotted by a microlyter, the next circle to appear in the Avebury environs was found perched on top of the high ground that's opposite Silbury Hill, which is the largest man-made earth mound in Europe.

Being amongst its first visitors, we found it wonderfully fresh and full of residual energy. So much energy in fact, that within a minute or so, it had managed to completely drain the battery of our digital-camera, but not before we managed to get these beautiful shots of its springy interior.

photos 2B & 2C - interior swirls - Silbury 4th June

Exactly a month later on the 4th of July, a real jaw-dropper arrived at Stonehenge.

photo 3 - Stonehenge, Wilts. 4th July

Measuring an amazing 750 feet across and spread over 13 tramlines, it was certainly one of the largest that's ever appeared. Its beautiful symmetrical shape reminiscent of ribbons, lightly touched upon three nearby tumuli, commonly found within the Stonehenge environs. Placed approximately a half mile or so away from the stones, the farmer was quite upset by it all, for as you can imagine, many of the Stonehenge visitors also wanted to visit the formation.

photo 4 - Alton Barnes, Wiltshire 15th July

Many were certainly surprised by the tree that sprang up in East Field on the 15th July. East Field, at Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, has been on the receiving end of many groundbreaking formations over the years, and this was no exception. Here we had a design that could easily feature as hand-drawn illustration in any children's book, and a magic one at that ... For if you view it upside down you'll find a magic mushroom!

photo 5 - Alton Barnes, Wiltshire 15th July - reversed

Lacking geometric qualities, this formation sadly lost its appeal as far as a few were concerned. When we walk round an art gallery though, can we truly say we're in love with all the artistic styles? Crop formations are presented to us in a variety of ways in order to widen our interest and thus extend their appeal - it's as simple as that!

The "Y" blatantly figured in the trunk of the tree, indicates quite importantly that here we have a Yew tree. The Yew is the tree of the temple that personifies eternal life, and frequently it was planted by the ancients close to the stone circles. This tree is often found in churchyards because it's planted within grounds that often would have hosted a stone circle long before the church replaced it. Yew trees appear to live forever and as such, are a symbol of immortality. The genetic code found within us, which certainly curtails our life span simply isn't found in them!

Whilst the sacred mushroom could be hinting at shamanic "other realities" found within its hallucinogenic properties, the tree of the temple symbolises the very real reality that life's eternal.

photo 6 - Pewsey Downs, Wiltshire 17th July

Late in the evening of July 16th some mysterious lights were reported hovering directly over the White Horse at Pewsey. The following morning a beautiful fresh formation was found lying in wheat just below this famous chalk figure. Nicknamed "The Nautilus", this 200 feet stunner won many accolades for its outstanding technical sophistication. Here we were blessed with a spiral that perfectly mimicked that which is commonly found in nature. This really was a lovely formation offering real quality, and definitely considered by many as one of this season's best.

photo 7 - Highclere, Hampshire 21st July

First reported on 21st July, a chance fly-over revealed a pure slice of ancient Egyptian symbolism lying in a Hampshire field, close to Highclere Castle. Familiar to many as the "all-seeing eye", it could clearly be seen from nearby Beacon Hill, which amazingly happens to be the final resting place of Lord Carnarvon, who together with Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922!

Some voiced suspicions about this formation, which I believe were unfounded. Unfortunately though, the corn-crushing brigade was once again out in force this year, with some actually being caught with their planks down! I must stress though that hoaxing in truth is really only a minor irritant to researchers, and certainly isn't the major problem that the media would have you believe.

Apart from expected hoaxes, there was also a significant increase in the number of man-made formations commissioned for commercials etc. Whilst all this is clearly legit, why is it that many of these enterprises are placed in high profile fields, that the real phenomenon is known to frequent.

Graham Tucker © 2002

End notes

1. Interior photographs of Silbury formation used by kind permission of Janet Tucker © 2002.

2. All other photographs used by kind permission of Steve Alexander © 2002.
Steve is a professional crop circle photographer who produces a beautiful yearbook illustrating the season's events. Details to be found on his homepage at: http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk/