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Buckinghamshire, on 30 July. At first they appeared to be obscure abacus- like lines and "beads", but the act of squinting or blurring the images suggested the vague presence of humanoid faces. Superimposing one design on top of the other, however— seemingly the task being set— revealed an incontrovertible visage. Which visage has opened up great debate. Some see the face of Jesus Christ, while others see the Mona Lisa or even "the face on Mars". Whichever way, this was sophistication of an impressive kind. With the fields being harvested rapidly by August and the canvas diminishing, there was still time for a a J few more high-quality events in : " F Wiltshire, such as the design tha Wickham Green (north of M4), near Hungerford, Berkshire. Reported 30 July. brilliantly but oddly resembled an egg-slicer at Woodsend on 3 August, sophisticated mandalas at Pewsey on 8 August and Horton on 9 August, as well as a longer pictogram a Beckhampton on 13 August, resembling some kind o sun-disc or Roman Catholic monstrance (host-holder). There were also some strange "splodges” throughou the summer, such as the curious radial ring at Stanton St Bernard on 8 August, surely too rough even for the worst land-artist yet too delineated in its basic form to have been caused by the weather, which stimulated ye further debate about the nature of this fascinatingly inconsistent phenomenon. Image: Madelien Scholten © 2010 “Wickham Green (south of M4), near Hungerford, Berkshire. Reported 30 July. Image: John Montgomery © 2010 In the Thick of It As the summer progressed, there was an inevitable active return of the phenomenon to the more familiar haunts of Alton Barnes and Avebury, though not all were happy with the quality of some of the designs there. Claims of people being seen making formations and a general air of paranoia from certain hard-core croppies spoiled the atmosphere for the sensitive. Internet rants from newly self-elected "experts", voicing unfounded accusations that a string of long-time circle researchers were now, in fact, the ones creating most of the patterns and that there should be a ban on their work and wares, were as ill-considered as they were laughable—and certainly evidence-free. But the ego-bound have always found little platforms from which to pronounce their fantasies in the cerealogical world (something abetted further by the new ubiquity of Facebook), and candidates will doubtless continue to come and go as quickly as others have before them. Indeed, some of today's enthusiasts would do well to read up on the previous 20 years’ research (something that many clearly haven't done), for in so doing they would realise that the very same challenges and lessons Most striking of the peak entries was the fantastic optical illusion of a three-dimensional multi-faced block of crosses, which arrived on 9 July at Cley Hill near Warminster, Wiltshire—site of the UFO "flap" of the 1960s to early 1970s. Most impressive was the way in which light and shade were suggested by texturing certain parts of the laid crop with “cross-hatching", making for one of the more original and ambitious designs in recent years. Less traditional in style, but equally bold in ambition, were the two most unusual formations of the season, found two fields away from each other on either side of the M4 motorway at Wickham Green, near Hungerford, 60 * NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com