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"molecule" pattern at Beckhampton on 10th August to serve as the last of the "biggies": a relatively simple but intriguing, massive spread of rings and crescents across a field. If there was slight disappointment across the UK, in the USA it was a different story. With Americans having been introduced to the phenomenon in a big way for the first time due to the Signs movie, there was far greater alertness to the appearance of new formations, with accompanying media excitement. The US is now in the throes of what the UK went through in the early 1990s: endless arguments and claims/ counter-claims between sceptics and non- sceptics filling local newspapers and televi- sion screens, as seen particularly in Rockville, California, where a group of boys laid claim to a local pictogram. UK researchers found it hard to stifle a kind smile at seeing people in another country going through what they have had to endure for so many years, knowing from experience that clear-cut answers to the debates now inflamed in the US will never Green Street, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 6th July. Image: www.temporarytemples.co.uk © 2003 come. Green Street, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Reported 6th July. The US even had its first claimed eye- Image: www.temporarytemples.co.uk © 2003 witness account of circles caught in the act of forming. According to the US TV sta- tion The Milwaukee Channel, a Wisconsin farmer says he watched formations appear- ing in his field during a thun- derstorm. "It looked like a lake—the waves, the wind blowing—and then, all of a sudden, this dark hole appears, like a black hole. And then immediately, one to the right, then another to the centre of it." Overall, the UK count of crop circles was notably down this year (with only around 75 recorded patterns), while the rest of the world was up in comparison (around 130 in total), with Germany, The Netherlands and Canada notching up some particularly fine forma- tions. Germany, in particu- lar, helped push the global count up with a staggering 58 recorded crop designs; if this curve continues, it will even- tually challenge the UK as the leader in numbers. Meanwhile, Italy, previ- a a sits ously almost a circle-free Walkers Hill, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 4th August. zone, suddenly produced 14 Image: John Dove © 2003 NEXUS = 59 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com