The 2008 season has begun!
The first formation appeared this year in England: next to the stone circle of Avebury, close to Silbury Hill.
It started off with a magnificent six-fold geometrical design in canola (oil seed rape).
I decided to go to Wiltshire for a few days. After all, I had been back home for two weeks (after having spent two months in Australia), so it was about time to
hit the road once again! My colleague and dear friend Bert Janssen joined me last minute. We drove the 10 hour journey
via Calais in France to Dover England, and then the last stretch to Avebury.
The formation was breath-taking. The evening sun turned the yellow canola fields into gold, which resulted in beautiful pictures...
The second formation was positioned at the foot of Milk Hill, below the White Horse of Alton Barnes.
This too was a magnificent pattern: a small three-fold geometrical flower.
The beautiful sun light, the clear blue sky, and the yellow and white of the flowers and the horse on the hill were just magical...
The formation was stunning, the way the canola plants had been bent was soft and smooth. Only few plants were broken, most stems
had been bent without any damage. The centre of the formation presented a standing bundle of canola plants.
We simply couldn't get enough and shot at least 200 photos...
Afterwards we visited the brand new Silent Circle Café in Compton Bassett. We now have a magnificent new venue right next to the White Horse Inn.
It's a much bigger and better place than we had before at Cherhill. Compton Bassett can be found around the corner from
Cherhill, yet it's further away from the main road and thus nice and quiet. The owners are lovely young people who show a genuine affinity
with the crop circles. The energy of the place is warm and soothing, you feel welcome as soon as you arrive.
Manager and dear friend Charles Mallett had been working hard to redecorate the venue and get it all ready for the 2008 season.
A few weeks ago I had promised him to give him a hand painting. So here I was: woman at work!
Inside it looked great already. It was nicely set up and decorated with crop circle products to be sold (DVDs, books,
photos, posters, T-shirts). There are maps on the walls with an overview of where to find which formation.
Right behind the White Horse Inn and the Silent Circle Café are two white buildings with eight Bed & Breakfast rooms. I
have rented them all for my groups in June, July and August (see
Bert and I spent five days in total in Wiltshire. As usual, those were intense days in which we drove quite a few miles,
visiting the formations, getting things ready for our groups this summer, updating our websites, and - naturally - flying
over the formations. And as I was waiting for Tony the pilot to take me up in the air, the Gods turned out to be favourable once more.
Tony landed and the first thing he said was: "There's a new one!" We took off straight away, heading for Avebury.
There she was, right next to the Stone Avenue: a stunning Yin-Yang formation in canola. What a Gift!
The other formations were also radiating with beauty, as did the Ghost of the Mayan-6 formation of last year!
The 7-7-7 formation in the Field Field of Alton Barnes also showed a vague, dark Ghost. Unfortunately, due to the intense energy,
my analogue camera malfunctioned (something that happens quite a lot inside and above formations)...
This trip we were also drawn to other things. For example, we visited the gorgeous fields of Blue Bells, something one can only enjoy
in April and May:
On the last morning we received a new report: a large ring had been found in a canola field at Ashbury.
We drove there straight away and soon came to the conclusion that it was a sad hoax: a man-made, crooked ring.
The soil in the centre (located precisely in a tramline) had been badly trampled. There was a deep hole in the ground
where the hoaxers had obviously put their central pole. Almost all stems were broken, those that were not badly damaged
had simply not been pushed down far enough.
Well, we didn't let it ruin our day. We'd had five perfect days, and there will be many more soon.
I will leave for Wiltshire again on June 15, this time to stay until August 21...
By the way, England is not the only country with formations. At this moment, Italy and the US have received some
beautiful patterns as well. On April 20, a lovely formation came down in Italy (at Riesi on Sicily), very similar to the 18-fold
geometrical flower of Martinsell Hill 2007:
Subsequently, on April 26, the following pattern appeared in barley at Rho (close to Milan):
On May 13 the following simple circle was found at Gallo d'Alba (Cuneo):
And the most recent one to be found at this moment in time in Italy was reported on May 13 at Agugliano - Castel d'Emilio
(Ancona):
In de US a lovely small formation was found in Monroe County, Tennessee, on May 5:
On June 3 this stunning beauty was discovered in South Korea:
Many thanks to Andreas Müller of the German crop circle website
for reporting this last one.
What an amazing development, I wonder when the Netherlands will be next...
I promise to keep you informed!
