Crop Circle hoaxers promise a bumper season of fakes to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Doug & Dave

SO WHERE ARE ALL THE CROP CIRCLES?

BY TRISTAN CORK [email protected] [link to www.westpress.co.uk]

09:50 - 14 June 2006
Hay fever, different crops, tragedy, emigration and yet more argument. Yes, the 2006 crop circle season is now under way... or is it? The rumours spreading around the wacky crop-circle world of Wiltshire are that there might not be as many of the mysterious formations this year as in previous summers.

While some people who claim to make the crop circles say they are hanging up their planks and ropes to have time out, others in the furtive world of the circlemakers pledge that this year will be the biggest yet.

And then, of course, there are the crop-circle devotees. They scoff at such planks-of-wood nonsense and say the more other-worldly circle- makers are sure to carry on.

One thing is certain, the possibility that there will be fewer, or even no crop circles this year, has sent the close-knit croppie community into a geometric vortex.

It was prompted by probably the most famous circlemaker in Wiltshire, Matthew Williams, announcing he would be taking a year off because hay fever, probably sparked by the increase in oil seed rape fields, was getting the better of him.

Mr Williams, still the only person in the world to be found guilty of crop circle criminal damage, said: "I'll not be out this year, it really is getting too bad. After a night in the fields, it takes me at least a day to recover."

He, and other crop circlemakers were also stunned by the death of one of their number, Paul Obee, who was found dead in a car at Erlestoke, near Devizes, last month.

He was a popular member of the circlemaking community, which is based around the Barge Inn pub at Honeystreet, in the heart of Wiltshire's crop-circle country. That tragedy, coupled with another prominent but unnamed circlemaker emigrating to Portugal, raised doubts that there wouldn't be many formations this year.

And, until this weekend, that appeared to be the case. The crop-circle enthusiasts' Bible, the website cropcircleconnector.com, failed to report a single formation throughout May and early June, when normally there would be at least a dozen early happenings.

Enthusiasts of course, don't believe all, or even most, circles are made by a group of 'landscape artists' with planks of wood and a computer-aided graphic design sheet and they can spot a hoax a mile off.

They are still expected to come in their thousands to Wiltshire this summer, looking for more evidence and clues to the real perpetrators of the crop circle phenomenon. They will also be engaging scientists to show the intense heat and energy used to create a real crop circle, as well as trying to capture the balls of light many have seen around the time of the creation of crop circles.

This weekend, despite the fears of a barren year, a beautiful geometric circular formation appeared at West Overton, near Avebury. And now all appears to be right with the crop-circle world again.

Circlemaker John Lundberg, from London, said yesterday this year would be the best yet for crop circles. "To be fair to him, Matt Williams hasn't made a crop circle in years, probably not since he was arrested. Paul's death was tragic and did hit everyone hard, but there's more than three or four people making circles and it's business as usual.

"This year is an important year for us, as it is the 30th year since Doug and Dave (the first people to claim they hoaxed crop circles) first made a circle. We're going to have the biggest summer yet, and I'm looking forward to it."

Mr Lundberg and his colleagues Robert Irving and Mark Pilkington have a book published this month entitled A Field Guide: The Art, History And Philosophy of Crop Circle Making.