Creation Date: Unknown
Map Ref: Unknown
Crop: Wheat
Reported by: Unknown (to John Sayer)
Image(s): Diagram(s) not to scale
Dimensions/Swirl: .
Description and Information: See Below
A missing formation turned out to be a classic pictogram and one of the best of the year. A stoke of good fortune led to the discovery and a reasonable survey of the formation to be made. Out flight down to Wiltshire in early August took us close to Faringdon where one harvested field looked to be marked with the outline of a large formation. On board was out experienced instructor, Liz, who was able to pinpoint the field as being in the triangle of the A420 and the first Faringdon turn heading West out of Oxford. The writer eventually got to the location on August 15th and immediately spotted a disturbance in the harvested field. This was mainly a large area of unknown shape, but it merged into a much neater sequence of features formaing a typical pictogram of the order of 200ft long. A public pathway ran across the field only 20ft from the top end of the formation, but the farmer who was also in the vicinity reported he had no knowledge of it until he was in the process of harvesting the crop of barley.
Having placed a report on the Internet, it transpired that experienced field watcher, John Sayer, had taken an aerial photograph, when the crop was still standing but was unsure of his bearings until now, from the description on the `Net. It was interesting to see that the photograph showed 2 principal full circles, whereas the post harvest survey indicated only half circles. Other features were not quite the same pointing to most of the layering having been removed except for the very lowest levels possible. The strange tree-like structure mentioned above was again quite shapeless on the photograph, so this was probably wind damage (although a useful marker to the rest of the formation).
As a caution, the location is quite close to the Faringdon folly
where instances of vandalism to young shrubs were reported a few months back.