Images Peter Sorensen Copyright 2001
This is the new formation that appeared June 22nd on
West Down, which is where the Beckhampton "Gallops" is (SU
064-687).
What a pleasant surprise I had in store!
Not only is it an attractive formation, but it's very close to a magical
little sacred site which I had taken an interesting shot of back in May.
The trees, like a cave, enclose a round barrow which has a Sarsen stone
on it's summit -- enchanting! To the left of the trees is an
archeological "crop marking" where an ancient ditch has been
plowed over and the baby wheat was growing darker than the surrounding
crop (this has disappeared in my new shot with the crop circle). To the
right of the trees is a similar shape, but not plowed, and the white
chalk is exposed. The ridges forming a roughly triangular shape is mowed
grass that has been raked by machine -- I was lucky to catch
that beautiful accent when I did because the farmer would have collected
it for animal feed within a day or two.
Note for purists concerning my "diagram shot" of the crop
formation: Although I did not remove the tramlines with PhotoShop (I DO
like the look of them sometimes), I have patched up a lot of places
inside the circles where my camera lost detail. To do this I have cloned
some bits of the laid crop from some circles to fill in gaps in other
circles.
Report by Peter Sorensen
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