Shapes resembling some form of crop circles have appeared on the Bishops Cannings cricket green…


There have been several formations documented in grassland over the years, rather than crops, perhaps most notably near The Cove at Avebury in 1994, where many people walked across a large double-ringed grass circle without even noticing for the most part.

However, more obvious shapes in grass have been reported at Bishops Cannings in the last few weeks, a regular site for crop formations; whether they are part of the same phenomenon is hard to say, but the occurrences are certainly notable.

The Devizes Gazette & Herald (Oct 18th 2001 edition) reports the story thus:

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“A succession of perfectly formed circles on the square used by Bishops Cannings Cricket Club has left officials wondering if they are crop circles.

Members of the club say it is the first time such circles have appeared on the square before.

Ed Davies, chairman of the cricket club, said: "It's very unusual and we have never seen it before on the square."

He and other members of the club have been maintaining the square since the season ended last month. They say they have not used any machinery which would produce the circular shapes.

Mr Davies stumbled across the shapes last week. There were eight circles, each measuring up to a metre in diameter. In the centre of the circles the grass is raised and the circle outline is clear. On one part of the square there were three circles joined together.

He said: "We have always had fairy rings at one edge of the square, but these circles are not fairy rings. We cannot rationalize it, there must be a geophysical answer to it. They are concentric circles. They are not higgledy-piggledy. Everything is spread evenly on the square, there is nothing we use that would make a circle.

Bishops Cannings farmer David Sheppard, who is also president of the club, has had crop circles on his land. He said: "The circles on the cricket square are similar to crop circles. I've never seen anything like it.”

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From the photographs, the circles look to be raised rings, rather than flattened, and although the report denies the possibility of fairy rings, it does seem likely there is a probable natural explanation.

But on the other hand, perhaps the circlemakers are inviting us to play cricket with them..?


(Thanks to Charles Mallett)