Crop circles, ice rings… and now sheep circles have been spotted, as BRIAN DAMERELL reports…
I have learned recently that there are many more aspects to the crop circle phenomenon than I could have imagined. When I joined our local group in Medway last year, prior to retirement, I already knew of the simple circles and the more complex formations, but I soon became aware, through the various speakers who visited us, that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
I learned about formations with only the top few inches of the crop bent over, like the ‘scorpion’ at West Kennett, and ice circles formed on pond ice in Ontario, which was too thin to walk on, and frost circles. Is there no end to the type of material in which circles appear? Apparently not!
As soon as I retired, my wife and I joined the retirement club of my old company and, as a ‘loosener’ to get myself ‘eased in’, I offered to give them a brief outline of crop circles. A short, but enthralling address followed (by that I mean that no-one nodded off) and that was that. This occurred in June 2001, and at our meeting last month a lady member asked me if I would like to see a photograph that she had taken on holiday last year, in Wales. What she showed me beggared belief because the photograph was of a field, which contained 100-plus sheep in what appeared to be a near perfect circle! [See photos.] She told me that the sheep were there for over twenty minutes and she had the presence of mind to take a photograph.
Could this be unique, or was it going to be a case of ‘Oh yes! The old sheep circle syndrome’?
My first approach was to our Medway Crop Circle group leader, Graham Tucker, and I felt that his response was luke-warm, until I showed the photograph. Then I KNEW I had something of interest. His first remark was something like “Goodness me, I think Michael Glickman would like to see this”.
Michael was quite excited about it when he rang me about twenty minutes after I had pressed
I thought it would be nice to track the location down to see if there were any ley lines or known energy sources, so I went to see the lady and her husband. I’d polished up my dowsing rods and learned a bit of Welsh in preparation. I was then informed that it was NOT in Wales at all. It was in Scotland. The task of tracking down the field then assumed gigantic proportions with this conflict of countries. The nearest I can get to the location is somewhere on the northeast coast, between the Cairngorms and John o’Groats.
The photographs (there are two) are genuine and have only been ‘sharpened up’ after scanning. If anyone has any thoughts on this phenomenon or has come across it before, or even recognise the field, please let me know on bjdam@care4free.net or +44 (0) 1634 375072.