Field report for East Kennett 26th June
Rather than driving down the
private farm road which goes direct to the field we parked and walked
along the Ridgeway which was a very nice way to arrive and gave great
views of the formation and its orientation to the local monuments. The
formation was being buzzed by a black R-44 from Thruxton helicopters for
a long time so it was good to be out of the way also until they left
about 6.30pm. We then had 15 minutes of peace before a very annoying drone
arrived and buzzed us persistently until we decided to go home, at the
same time as the other visitors there.
In that short interlude, we enjoyed
a very harmonious and balanced formation in well-grown wheat which had a
crisp freshness and precision throughout. Some interesting features we
noticed:
1. The whole formation is precisely
aligned with the tramlines, which thus become part of the design
visually. The broken circle at the NE end starts on one tramline edge
and finishes on the other. Very neat!
2. In several places a thin strip
of wheat one stalk wide has been left standing on the edges of the
tramline, as at Uffington a few weeks ago (q.v. my field report).
2. The ~1m-wide track which
'embraces' the circles is unicursal, i.e. it consists of a single
'brush-stroke' from start to finish. Flows beautifully round the tight
right-angled corners also.
3. The shimmering effect on the
solid circle at the SW end as seen from the air is created by alternate
rings of circular swirling and radial lines.
4. The central circle has a
standing centre. As we sat looking at this, we noticed a large cloud of
flies circling above it in a neat column. No flies above the laid crop
(not so surprising) but also no flies at all above the rest of the
standing crop! Only in the centre of the central circle.
5. The compass on my smartphone is
unreliable, so I would like someone else to check this, but… when I took
it out it gave 20 degrees E of N for the alignment of the tramline and
thus of the formation, which looks about right on the map. However when
I passed it to my friend it flickered and settled on due North and
stayed there even when I took the phone back. I wish I had checked the
tramlines outside the formation but I forgot with the drone pestering
us.
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