BRIEF REPORT ON THE CROP FORMATION AT ATHERINGTON, WEST SUSSEX, JULY 2017

This crop formation at Atherington/Climping, near the seaside town of Littlehampton, is the closest one to the sea that has ever been reported in East or West Sussex – Climping Beach is literally just over the field boundary.

The overall diameter of the formation, which was actually measured on the ground, was reportedly 169 feet between the furthest points of the two most outer rings in both ‘arms’ of the cross, suggesting a degree of accuracy in its construction. The main outer ring of the design was 123.5 feet in diameter.

Reports from visitors suggest some interesting and often impressive flows in the lay of the crop.  Some of the rings display counter flows – strips along the edge going one way and central areas going the other.  Largely neat, just a few edges are curiously blurred, as if the crop-flattening process lifted up slightly as it skimmed some of the curves.  The central circle seems to have been laid with an outer ring and four internal standing strips which were then alternately flattened in blocks to give the ‘basket weave’ effect. There are some neat angular corners and curious stem splays on some of the other corner points in the intersecting rings.

Some areas of randomly downed crop subsequently appeared near the eastern end of the field, which some visitors apparently mistook for the formation itself, not realising that was further up the field.  This looks more like lodging rather than people splurging about – if it was the latter then they weren’t very good about it.