Ground Report – Monkton Down, Avebury, Wiltshire, 26/06/2005

This interesting crop circle is situated in a surprisingly secluded location near to the white horse on Hackpen Hill. It cannot be seen from the road because it is positioned two fields back, and over a slight rise which leads up to the adjacent Ridgeway.

From above the formation has a unique 3D quality, comprising as it does, 25 circles, arranged in such a way that they appear spherical. Simple, yet very effective.

On the ground there is not a huge amount of laid crop. The pathway around the outer edge of the formation is only 6ft wide, and the edges of each of the circles less than 1ft wide. Four of the circles are flattened, although not the whole circle, because they are overlapped by those below them.

The pattern of the laid crop is simplicity itself. The ‘left’ side is all laid anti-clockwise, flowing towards the base of the design, the ‘right’ side laid clockwise, also flowing towards the base. The wheat along the main outer pathways follows the direction of the curves formed by the edges of each of the circles.

The largest laid areas do not have a particular swirl to them. There is a section which follows the curve of the circles which overlap these and is laid in the same direction, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, as the outer pathways, depending on which side of the design they are on. The rest of the crop basically flows towards the top and out towards the sides of each circle.

The only unusual feature to the lay lies at the base of the design, where the two outer pathways meet. Here, the crop flowing in opposite directions meets, creating a raised area, with some sections flowing over one another towards both sides.

Interestingly, this ‘meeting’ of the crop does not occur at the centre of the base circle, but a few feet to the left of it.

The ‘base’ circle is the only one which is not intersected by another. The centre of this circle lies in standing crop. The crop is undamaged at this point and the surrounding pathways are laid in the same way as those throughout the formation.

There are varying levels of damage to the laid crop in this formation. Much of it is undamaged, but in some areas there is evidence of kinked stems and crop having been laid ‘into’ tramlines instead of over them. A week after its appearance, any damage could have been caused by visitors, although I did not get the impression that there have been huge numbers.

The narrow pathways appear to be well flattened to the ground and flow out or into the other sections of the design.

An uncomplicated, attractive and well designed crop circle, which in its accurate construction creates an inspiring and visually pleasing effect.

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