Waylands Smithy, Near Kingstone Coombs,

Oxfordshire.

Reported June 13 2009.

The formation was easy to access, being only a few yards from the Ridgeway,through a gap in the hedge or from the copse, although it was not visible from t he footpath itself.

Although the crop had been laid lightly, the laid plants were uniformly snapped quite violently at the base throughout the formation. There were no heavy marks visible in the soil. We found the odd crease mark on the laid stems. These were few and far between and could have been caused by people

walking on the downed crop or by mechanical pressing. We found no evidence of multiple crease marks in a line across several stems.

Although the laid crop demonstrated a uniform and straight direction in terms of the direction of lay, lacking any sideways layering or multi-directional lay of the crop, some of the laid plants showed bending of the nodes in a vertical direction back up towards the sun. All the bentnodes we found pointed upwards, not sideways. I believe this upwards turning of pl ants can be attributed to natural phototropism of individual plants back towards the light source subsequent to them being laid. We were at the formation approximately 24 hours after it was first reported and I consider that in such a young wheat crop this would be sufficient time for thisnatural readjustment to commence. Recovery of the crop was evident through out the formation.

The ends of each segment were rough and inconsistent, with some displaying a jagged, dog tooth effect and others squared off at 90 degrees to thestanding crop.

The very centre of the formation was bare soil with very flattened plants splaying out from it and had clearly been walked upon quite heavily. Thecentre displayed no swirls or plaiting of the stalks or any other kind of centrepiece.

The outer sections of the formation were not connected to the inner, but there was a visible path cut through the standing crop joining two of the segments, although this could have been caused by visitors after the event.

Overall, the formation displayed a lack of neatness, which I felt was also evident on the aerial shots that I viewed later.

Repor and Ground Photost by Debs Marriage © 2009