Ground Report – Toot Baldon, Oxfordshire, 14/05/05

What a lovely location for a crop circle! With the nearest road only just visible from the crop circle, only a few houses in sight and certainly no people around this location is entirely different from the Hampshire ring I saw the day before. Having chosen the correct bridleway to get within viewing distance of the crop circle, the walk into field and farmland was a very pleasant one. Standing on a large heap of manure to get a (slightly) better view of the formation, which was some way off, and having an unfortunate lack of ability when it comes to map reading, I was sure I had found the elusive second Oxfordshire crop circle!

A lovely, if a little windy walk led me to the edge of the field and what followed was a physical fight between me and the rape stems just to get along the tram line and into the circle! On arriving it was clear to see that I had in fact found the first of the two crop circles to have appeared in Oxfordshire.

Situated on the top of a sloping field and combined with the fact that the standing crop is now so high, had I not already seen an aerial photo of the crop circle, it would have been very difficult to ascertain what the design was.

At this point I would usually comment on my enjoyment at being inside the formation, a feeling which I always experience and have come to expect of any visit. On this occasion, however, the atmosphere couldn’t have been more different. Feeling strangely uneasy as soon as I entered it, this feeling did not abate in any part of the design, persisting throughout the whole time I was there. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what the atmosphere was like, and certainly impossible to give a reason, but I just felt like I was constantly looking over my shoulder, for what I didn’t know. For me this was a new and not very pleasant experience, although interesting all the same.

The formation actually consists of two separate crop circles, which are aligned west to east, the largest of the two on the western side, with an area of standing crop about 40ft wide in between them. The largest of the two designs is based around a circle of around 70ft in diameter and has two half crescents protruding from the sides, as well as a curved area of standing crop in the centre.

The smaller of the two designs contains a central circle of laid crop which measures 20ft across. It has two crescent ‘arms’ emanating from the western and eastern edges and flowing round to almost meet the opposite side. The outer edges of these appear to be formed by two overlapping circles, possibly forming a vesica pisces shape in the centre, the accuracy of which I could not tell. As the ‘arms’ taper down towards their narrowest point the lay of the crop becomes very messy and continues with underlying pathways which do flow round as far as the next area of laid crop. Whether these can be seen from above I’m not sure. The central circle has a standing tuft at the centre, and next to this there are some laid stems which appear bent, although not at a very acute angle, at the base.

The crop is generally laid in a clockwise direction, although in the main circle the flow of the crop tends to follow the ‘s’ shaped direction of the pattern itself.

There is a distinct difference in the direction of the lay of the crop at some points in the larger of the two designs which can be seen in the image below.

There is a fair bit of damage to the laid crop in places, and I would not expect the formation to have been heavily visited due to it’s secluded location. There have certainly not been too many visitors recently as is evident from the visible damage I cause by walking over the well re-grown crop.

This crop circle provided an interesting and new experience in a location I have not visited before and has added even more intrigue and mystery to my appreciation of this phenomenon.

Later the same day I did try to locate the other crop circle in the same area, but was unable to do so. Having looked again at the aerial photo of the formation it seems as though at one stage I was as close as I could get to it at the edge of the field, but still couldn’t see it! This frustratingly shows just how secluded its location really is. If anyone has managed to find and survey this crop circle, we would love to hear from you.

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