All that’s left of a wheat field at Weir Farm, near Uffcott. Photograph by Iamunknownhannah

Mid-to-late July brings mixed feelings if you are lucky enough to be a croppie who is able to frequent crop circle country. Good weather, beautiful sunsets and warm winds up on the downlands. There’s nothing better than sitting in, or walking around a well made crop circle in the Wiltshire countryside, listening to all of the croppies sharing viewpoints, opinions and debating the latest developments in handpan design. But…the days are getting shorter and in the distance you can hear the drone of combines bringing in the barley and oilseed rape crop. You know it’s only a matter of time until the start of August when the wheat is cut and the soil turned.

Wheat harvest, 21 July 2026. Photograph by Nick Bull

That’s crop circle tradition, but there has been very little that’s traditional about the weather in 2026. For much of the first half of the year, the rain didn’t want to stop. When it did, it gave way to some ridiculously hot weather. Schools shut, our lack of decent air-conditioning was exposed and we baked. More importantly, the barley and wheat matured much earlier than normal. And, regrettably, that means a terribly early harvest.

When we visited the circles at Roundway last weekend, we were amazed by the proportion of wheat fields that had already disappeared under the blades. We would normally be expecting another fortnight of circles but it seems we will not be so fortunate this year.

However, it isn’t all bad. After the nightmare of 2025, this season has been much more positive and upbeat. It will even inspire us to resume our end-of-year reviews after a twelve month hiatus!

Hackpen Hill. Photograph by Iamunknownhannah

The major reason we absolutely despise social media is because it gives people an outlet for idiots to express uninformed, ignorant and plain nasty viewpoints. We deal with enough of these morons in this column and, it should be said, return the favour. However, on this occasion, we have something a little different.

Step forward, one Mark Byrne, a man raging against crop circles:

He cries:

Crop Circles prevent archaeologists from seeing buried remains by obscuring crop marks for up to a year. The crop mark (differential growth of crops due to structural soil differences) of a 5,000 year old feature might only appear for a few days every decade. If someone is so desperate for attention that they flatten the crop before the crop marks appear, then the structure will remain uncovered…

Okay, so let’s get this straight. Crop circles are concealing archaeological crop marks (click here if you can keep your eyes open to read through a primer) which only appear for a few days every decade. Fair enough, to a point, but hang on. Really, what are the odds on a solitary crop circle appearing on precisely the exact day as a crop mark and hiding its presence? We imagine there’s a far greater chance of Mark falling under the wheels of a bus as he crosses the road, whilst peering over stacked volumes of Herbert’s British Crop Marks Gazetteer (1765-1965. As for circle makers being ‘desperate for attention’, has this chap taken a look at himself? The nerd on a one sap campaign to point out the evils that crop circles inflict on crop marks?

But Byrney wasn’t done, and switched his ire to Monique Klinkenbergh’s crop circle conference:

Apologies for the reality check. [Crop circles] obscure crop marks of hidden archaeological features (for up to a year) that may only appear for a few days every decade…I’d much rather find (and protect) something for future generations, than give criminal damage the oxygen of publicity.

So, he doesn’t want to give ‘criminal damage the oxygen of publicity’, which he’s done by writing on Facebook which, in turn, has resulted in this piece. Way to go.

Seriously Mark, as much as we appreciate you’re passionate about archaeological crop marks, you’re on a hiding to nothing among the crop circle fraternity. How about we dig up the roads and buildings of southern England, because there is good chance they could be hiding some ground markings too? And what about the evils of the rural barn? And troughs… God help us.

Finally, we were amused by this comment on Facebook about the presence of crop circle making clubs in Britain:

This is a very specifically British traditional form of art with many local creative “clubs” dedicated to designing and executing these beautiful works of art.

If only it were so!