Hot on the heels of the Dorset crop circle that appeared on Okeford Hill a few weeks ago, a stunning new design has appeared in a field close to the trailway just outside Blandford. We covered Dorset’s Okeford Hill crop circle last month, and the NFU spokesperson told us it caused over £600 of wheat damage.
image © Drone Photography by THF Comuter Services Dorset
There is also always the concern for the landowner over ever more costly damage being caused by visitors to the site trespassing and trampling further crops. The Okeford Hill circle was in a quiet location and didn’t draw massive crowds – however this crop circle in Blandford may be of more concern.
Despite there being no public footpath or legal access to the field, it is easily accessible alongside the popular trailway walking and cycling route, and close to a busy road.
Crop circles and their origins have spawned years of debate and speculation, and continue to hold massive interest – no matter your belief in their mysterious creation. Crop circles are innately beautiful and cryptic, and inevitably fascinate people. Some believe that crop circles are used as a message from a foreign species. That perhaps they represent some sort of alien language. Others believe that they are simply a hoax by creative people who wish to scare or stun the people who view them.
But whatever the belief in their source, crop circles have a long and vibrant history with many legends swirling around them. The first appearance of a crop circle was in England 1678; the “Mowing Devil” was the first reported incident of a crop circle, and the farmer who found the circle said that there was ‘a devilish entity that visited his field’.
Doug Bower and Dave Chorley created hundreds of crop circles in the ‘90s, and openly explained how they did it; yet people continued to believe that it was done by aliens.
In the early ‘70s, when the first modernized version of the crop circle appeared, the best way to complete it was with a rope and plank (creating a centre point with a post, then tying a string to it to work out from there to maintain the symmetry and geometry). However, in modern times, GPS is accepted as playing a role in the creation of the circles. Professor Richard Taylor, director of the Materials Science Institute at the University of Oregon, said that advanced technology could be the source for the shapes.
Image © professional drone aerial photography in Dorset photographers THF Computer Services.
“The modern patterns which involves elaborate geometric shapes suggests that circle makers have upped their equipment from the simple plank and rope to something more technologically sophisticated. GPS systems could help the circle makers cover vast spaces and keep the pattern intact”.
With the easily-available modern technology, it doesn’t seem unlikely that a human could make such a sophisticated design in crops – but crop circle artists aren’t going to give up their secrets any time soon. Whether the creation is supernatural or not, the mystery behind the creation of the circles is still key to holding people’s interest in the beautiful designs.
