THE MEDWAY CIRCLES - DAYTIME ARRIVALS!
Most of the crop circles that have appeared in Kent during the last few years have notably concentrated their efforts in and around the Medway Valley. An area of outstanding natural beauty, the Medway Valley runs between Maidstone and Rochester with the River Medway slicing the Kentish Downs in two. Often acknowledged by "The Circlemakers", this river valley is home to the most important group of megalithic monuments this side of the Hampshire Downs.
The circles that appear in the Medway area have long been recognised as being somewhat unique for a number of reasons. For instance, one that I must first mention (that to be honest really warrants an article in its own right) is that they like to place themselves on alignments of their own making. In other words, they create these alignments based upon the positions of old formations that have appeared previously.
Whilst the Medway circles are quite distinctive in character, they remain more in keeping with traditional designs. But what sets the Medway circles apart from most others, is the very plain and simple fact that many of them appear in broad daylight!...and what's more, thanks to numerous witnesses over the years, they've apparently appeared within time-windows that range from anything that's less than two hours, right down to about thirty seconds!
The Star of Istead...Istead Rise - 29th July 2000 © ANDREW KING
On the 29th of July 2000 Kent was on the receiving end of a beautiful star formation at Istead Rise. According to Ann Pedersen a founder member of the Medway Crop Circle, it was first reported by Roy Luck another MCC member, who discovered it at around 7am. Roy later confirmed to Ann that he was certain it wasn't there the previous evening. A few days went by before we started to hear rumours that a few people had driven by the field along the busy A227 at around 5-5.30 that morning, who swore it wasn't there then! A dog walker from the nearby village of Istead, also said it was there at 7am but didn't think it was there earlier. But whilst we only had these word-of-mouth stories to go on, it naturally provided quite an interesting talking point at the time.
Borstal Bubble Ring...Borstal, nr. Rochester - 25th June 2001 © ANDREW KING
The following year on the 25th of June, a tri-armed formation perched itself high upon the hillside that overlooks the Medway Valley at Borstal. In an update report (28th June) on Crop Connector, researcher Andrew King was the first to bring our attention to the fact that we were possibly dealing with another daytime arrival. The following is an extract from that report which relates to some interesting information given by a local eye-witness..."Evidently it was not there early in the morning - i.e. about 7-8 am, but was seen early in the evening when the person returned from work. While it is possible that it may have been too misty for the formation to have been easily visible in the morning, I understand that the person concerned was in the habit of deliberately looking out for a formation in that particular field when he went to work each morning". (Please note...that this particular guy was a CC enthusiast and naturally checked this field because it had received a formation back in '99).
At around the same time as Andrew's report was posted on the net, we began to learn of other eye-witness accounts concerning its arrival in daylight from a source we really didn't expect...and we even learnt that it might have been caught on camera! The new rail-bridge over the River Medway was being constructed at the time and CCTV cameras were spread all over the site. This massive construction just happened to skirt by the lower half of the field that contained the formation. Every so often cameras panned round this field and to the utter amazement of one particular TV watcher, a crop circle appeared in less than a thirty-second turn!
This report from Ann Pedersen and the Kent-Kaos team is fairly reliable. But what started out as an event that was quite open and riddled with light-hearted banter, suddenly developed into a closed-shop scenario. Whilst we can be pretty sure that a camera did monitor this event, when it came to the $64,000 dollar question, "Did the camera record it?" frustratingly, no one would give them any straight answers. This certainly aroused suspicion that perhaps some footage did exist, but now I'm afraid to say it seems we'll never know!
Burham Starburst...The Pilgrims Way, nr. Burham - 12th July 2003 © ANDREW KING
There were no such happenings the following year, but on the 12th July 2003 two microlight pilots (who wished to remain anonymous at the time and of course we must still respect that) couldn't wait to ring us about an amazing crop circle event. The pilots who were using the same air corridor as always, had just flown over the same field below Rochester Airport that they had flown twice that day already. But on the third fly-over and much to their amazement, there was the crop circle!
The farmer in a sense kind of confirmed this when he said he only noticed it when he saw people in his field just before lunchtime. Given that the formation was on a slope, and actually faced his farmhouse, wouldn't he have seen it earlier? I must also mention though, that we spoke to a couple of villagers who were reasonably sure that that it was there earlier that day...
Although I admit I was inclined to go with the pilots on this one, you simply have to keep an open mind. But what was emerging here was a strong possibility that some of our circles were arriving in broad daylight...which in fact goes right against the common misconception spread by the media, that they're probably all man-made under the cover of darkness.
Burham Circles...Blue Bell Hill, nr. Burham - 14th July 2004 © ANDREW KING
Quite a number of our circles of late have appeared at the foot of the North Downs close to Blue Bell Hill, which is near Maidstone. On the 14th July 2004 a large cluster of circles mysteriously appeared at Burham, that could be easily seen from the Blue Bell Hill picnic area. The 14th July just happened to be a day away from our wedding anniversary, and Janet and myself were really looking forward to celebrating with a meal that evening at one of our favourite watering holes! We were a bit on the early side, so we decided to kill a little time by checking out the picnic area, which we often do as a matter of course.
It really came as quite a surprise to find a crop circle staring back at us!...But what we simply couldn't understand was, assuming that as-per-norm it had arrived earlier that day, why hadn't we heard about it? Why didn't any of those that keep a good lookout for us let us know? Where was the phone call from the pilots or the dog walkers, or indeed any of those other jolly fine sorts who regularly visit the picnic area that were always promising to ring us?
So there we were, hardly suitably attired, but running down the side of the field towards an amazing event that was literally sizzling with energy! Instinctively we both new it had only just arrived and there was nothing going to convince us otherwise. In fact we felt quite privileged, as if to say...happy anniversary! Well, that's how we looked upon it at the time, but whilst obviously there's really no way we could have claimed it as being a daytime event, I think it deserves a mention.
Blue Bell Spinner...Blue Bell Hill, nr. Maidstone - 19th June 2005 © ANDREW KING
This delightfully simple formation that was discovered on the 19th June 2005 appeared within a time window of less than an hour and a half. Researcher Andy Fowlds whilst on a field reckky, checked out the Blue Bell Hill picnic area at around 1.30 - 1.45 pm and the fields below were empty. Now you would have to have been as blind as a bat not to have spotted this one from the picnic area which has excellent views all round, yet Andy swears it wasn't there at the time.
Circle enthusiast Michael Figg though arrived at the picnic area just before 3.00 pm and found himself staring at a circle that was right in front of him! (Further details of which may be found in the archives of Crop Connector) We know that a pilot who was flying over the area at the time became suddenly aware of it, for he was performing that day for the crowds at an air display at nearby Rochester Airport. Later we learned that at least two people who were at the display heard an announcement over the tannoy between 2.00 & 2.45 pm, mentioning that the pilot had just called in to say that he'd just spotted a crop circle.
We spoke with the farmer's wife and family at around 4.00 pm and they were blissfully unaware of it, and all this despite the fact that from one of their bedroom windows, they probably would be looking straight at it.
The Pointing Star...Blue Bell Hill, nr. Burham - 24th June 2006 © ANDREW KING
On the 24th of June a formation arrived that once again could be easily seen from the Blue Bell Hill picnic area. Ever since we've come to realise that now and again we're on the receiving end of daytime ones, we're now in the habit of checking our local hotspots at least two or three times a day. On this particular occasion I can vouch that the formation was definitely not there at 7.30 pm. Some others were there around half an hour later, and they didn't see it either. And yet the farmer chased five youngsters out of the formation later that night! We know this because the following morning researcher William Betts was offered this information through a chance meeting with an angry farmhand. Apparently after they had been chucked out, the farmer had to keep his eye on them for a while because they were hanging around the track that runs beside the field. They eventually left, but you would have thought that if the farmer had caught them making the circle he would have called the police. The youths were in no hurry to leave for obviously they hadn't created it...they'd probably seen it from the picnic area and decided to visit it. As William Betts reports on the Culture Crop site (under the heading 2006 photos) for a team of corn-crunchers to even think about nailing one down in this particular field is sheer madness! It's in such a prominent position that it can be easily seen from the hillside. Houses even overlook this field and all it takes is a phone call. The field ends in a cul-de-sac, so if you're caught there's virtually no escape, unless of course you're prepared to jump into the chalk pit!
For the record this formation appeared in the same field, but on the opposite side to the Burham Circles of '04, that we "seemed to sense" had just appeared.
The formation from the air did look a bit at odds with itself...stretched & definitely oblate...which threw a geometric spanner-in-the-works and provided some useful ammunition for all the armchair sceptics. Crop circle devotee Debbie Marriage has some interesting thoughts on this..."We have to rise above not only the hoax vs. genuine debate but also rise above trying to find a "one-size-fits-all" litmus test for genuine formations. I believe the phenomenon will always stay one step ahead of us because if we were to some sort of "test of realness" we would stop our evolution of consciousness, which is what "The Circlemakers" have come to assist. So it follows when we pontificate that "all real formations display perfect geometry" genuine CC's that are geometrically "off" immediately appear, e.g. Burham & Cheesefoot Head ('06), to name just two".
When you start thinking along the lines of Debbie's thoughts, it follows that because it sits in everyone's mind that CC's are created overnight, "The Circlemakers" likely respond by transmitting daytime ones...
...And so once again folks, we find our habitual thinking is questioned as they score yet another direct hit on our complacency!
Well that's the story so far...I think we can now assume that the Medway area in particular appears to have been somehow "chosen" as it were, to be on the receiving end of a few of these unique events. Whilst some of these cases are now slowly sinking into the mists of time, most of what's been reported here can still be verified. I've highlighted around half-a-dozen fairly reliable happenings, but haven't included the one or two others that I couldn't verify, which obviously we must now regard as rumours.
Are daytime transmissions as rare as we think though? Although I've managed to collate a number of them locally, who's to say that the one discovered next to Silbury at 6.00 am, didn't arrive a few minutes earlier? One thing's for certain, "The Circlemakers" are definitely trying to prove to us in the Medway area that they really don't take that long to make!
G.Tucker © 2006 Many thanks to Andrew King once again for his photos