Golden Ball Hill

Wiltshire - England
Vale of Pewsey
May 1, 2005

The photos here were taken on May 2, 2005 by William Betts, who was one of the first to visit the crop circle. The farmer who cultivated the field was well known for his position regarding unwelcomed intrusion onto his land, and would readily chase people out. It maybe for this reason that there is very little online documentation on the condition of the stems and flowers in this oilseed rape crop circle, although it is also possible that at the time people were not so interested in looking for proof of authenticity. We appear to be the only ones who have interesting close-up ground shots of the oilseed rape plants here.

This crop circle raised an intriguing question: what happens when, in a field of flowering oilseed rape the plants, stems and heads, are flattened to the ground by someone bringing mechanical pressure to bare on them? We challenged the circlemaking community to find out by making a crop circle in oilseed rape, with of course the permission of the farmer, to see what the results would be. This challenge has been updated and offered in “responsive” format for easier consultation today. (Consult the RAPESEED CHALLENGE FR).

1 - Have a look at ground shots of the latest crop circle which appeared under Golden Ball Hill, Wiltshire. They were taken a day after its arrival. It had already had one or two visitors. The photographs show a beautifully and delicately laid crop giving the feeling of a river of flowers, as if they had simply dropped down a step to create the shape. Amazing.

3 - Notice the upright stem on the left and the bent stem on the right. If this had been done mechanically both would have ended up flattened to the ground.

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5 - The stem with the double bend seen in the foreground was uprooted and photographed a short time after. There appear to be what look like expulsion cavities on the underside.(See this photo link)

11 -Here are more ground shots of the crop circle in oilseed rape which appeared under Golden Ball Hill, Wiltshire, taken a day after its arrival, on May Day 2005. The photographs show beautifully and delicately laid plants, you almost get the feeling of a river of flowers, as if they had simply dropped a step down to create the shape. It had had one or two visitors, but the vaste majority of the laid stems were undamaged.