The 2020 Crop Circle Season – Pre-season Information

Last updated:  28 May 2020

The 2020 Crop Circle Season has now begun. Check our Latest Circles page for more information!

Crop Circle Reporting and Covid-19: After considerable thought and consultation, we have decided we will not be censoring crop circle locations during the Covid-19 pandemic. There are no current restrictions in place in the UK that call for a blanket ban on visiting the countryside. We consider the reporting of crop circles to be in the spirit of journalism, and censorship to be an anathema to that spirit. Therefore, we will be treating the crop circle community as adults and asking everyone to approach the information carefully and responsibly. This will include not visiting the circles if the farmer has not given explicit permission to do so and should permission be given that they practice social distancing by staying 2 metres away from fellow visitors. It would be our very strong advice that visiting the crop circles on the ground should be kept to an absolute minimum for now. However, because we know that the location of any given circle can be important to researchers and those that record the circles from the air, we will continue to share what we know. 

Flying during the Covid-19 Pandemic: As of the 1st of June, because of the current pandemic, we have not been able to take to the air to record the crop circles as we usually would. We are however, very confident that the restrictions keeping us grounded at present will be lifted before too long and we will be able to cover the rest of the season as usual. In the meantime, we are every pleased to have teamed up with the excellent AEROBO (Art in Flight) who will be helping us collect images and drone footage of the latest crop circles to share on the website. 

General Pre-Season Info

When will the first circle of 2020 appear?

The first circle reported last year (2019) was on May 22nd at Norridge Wood in Wiltshire, but we did not take our first flight until early June. In 2018 the first circle appeared on May the 8th at Willoughby Hedge in Wilts. The UK winter has been very wet this year, with widespread flooding, this has meant that many farmers have lost entire crops, with Oilseed Rape (Canola), being worst effected. Read More…

Although it might seem obvious, crop circles occur only during the crop growing season. In the UK the first circles can start to occur in April and May, reaching their height in late July and August. Crop circles do in fact occur all over the world in many countries and obviously they similarly follow growing seasons in that particular part of the world.

Impact of Corona Virus/Covid-19?

It is simply unknown if the current Corona Virus pandemic will impact the crop circle season in any way. With many oilseed rape/canola crops being lost this spring (see above), this could delay the start of the season – usually early crop circles are in this crop type. 

As usual, we will have to wait to see what unfolds and take each day as it comes. 

Where do the crop circles appear?

In the UK most circles occur in the counties of Wiltshire and Hampshire, although circles do happen (in lesser numbers) countrywide. In the early season (April/May) numbers are few but this gradually builds up as the summer moves on, at the height of the season (late July/August) several circles can appear on one night.

The season ends with the harvest (mid-late August) and the slate is wiped clean for another year. In the UK the first crop to mature is oilseed rape (canola), then barley, then wheat – the circles seem to follow this maturation process with the first circles appearing in the brilliant yellow of the canola fields and finishing in mature golden wheat. From time to time circles have appeared in other crops – linseed, borage, oats, even beans.

Keep up with the latest News

Want to be one of the first to know what’s going on? Consider joining our mailing list and following us on social media. We update our mailing list with pictures directly to your inbox and make regular reports via our Facebook page. You can sign up for our newsletter by visiting the homepage and entering your email address on the box at the bottom. There are links to our Facebook Page and Instagram account at the bottom of each page on the website.

Plan your summer of crop circling?

The corona virus pandemic means that (at the time of writing) there are tight restrictions on travel and personal freedoms within the UK. It is also unclear as to when these will be lifted. It is likely that there will still be some restrictions in place during the summer and how these will impact visiting the UK, or travelling to see any circles is still very unclear. We will keep the website updated with any information we have as the summer progresses. 

Temporary Temples Crop Circle Conference 2020

We usually hold our annual Crop Circle Conference in Devizes, Wiltshire at the height of the season (July 31st/ August 1st/2nd 2020) and we have a wonderful line-up of speakers and workshops planned. However if the corona virus pandemic restrictions remain in force we will look to move the conference online with a series of lectures and workshops taking place on weekends during late August and throughout September. We will be making a decision about which way the conference goes in the next few weeks and we’ll keep you informed. 

While you wait

While we wait for news of the first circles, we are currently offering some online webinars and workshops. Read More…

About the Crop Circles | Crop Circle Conference 2020 | Visiting the Crop Circles | Shop | About Us 

If you haven’t already, take a look at our Crop Circle Year Books. They are a great way of immersing yourself in crop circle history. We are in the process of publishing our 21st edition with images of the 2019 season. Click on the image to find out more…

Finally, if you’re new to the crop circle subject, or just new to our website – welcome! Please have a good look around our website, it packed with beautiful images and information about the circles. We hope you enjoy it and will stay with us as we record the 2020 crop circle season.

Photographic Enlargements: are now available of many of the 2019 crop circles click here to see our fantastic range.

Please Help to keep us Flying in 2020: If you have enjoyed looking at our pictures and information please consider making a small donation to keep us flying. There are so few of us left regularly recording the circles it’s really important that we continue. And while some now use drones to record the circles, it is important that there are still images taken from aircraft where the best quality camera equipment can be used and images that include the broad vista of the landscape can be taken.

This kind of photography is expensive and it gets harder with each passing year to raise the funds we need to continue our work, but if everyone who regularly looked at this website made a small donation we would meet the funds we need. You can make a donation here.

Image Licencing

We can supply high resolution images of many of our photographs and the sky is the limit as to what they can be used for! Choose from our extensive library or contact us to commission aerial photography for your project.

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