With the first of this year’s crop circles already arriving, Andy reviews the previous season of 2025. With quieter fields now an accepted stage of the crop circle story, there has been a paradoxical reawakening of interest in the phenomenon, generating new exposure – and controversy …
The New Normal
After years wondering whether the dip in numbers of crop formations was temporary or a trajectory, it has become clear we are in a twilight period, for now at least. There were just a few amazements in 2025 amongst a handful of more moderately ambitious patterns. But this doesn’t mean the circle mystery has lost its magnetism nor the capacity to generate fierce arguments; if anything, their scarcity makes the truly extraordinary examples stand out more and the battle for the truth of what is going on has intensified after years of general indifference.
The recent rediscovery of the circles by leading UFO podcasts, which now command huge followings, is welcome but the excited focus on the now can overlook the accumulated learning from the many earlier – and busier – seasons and doesn’t foster understanding of the wider curve of the phenomenon. With this in mind, 2025 saw the launch of the Crop Circle Research Archive (CCRA) at www.circleresearcharchive.com as an attempt to make available the former decades of important circle studies carried out by many different researchers, buried in dusty folders and hard drives for too long. Under the guidance of archivist Barry Reynolds, with me as assistant, this rehabilitation is an ambitious work in progress, but there is already a lot of material there that will be gradually added to with the aim of ultimately creating one of the most comprehensive crop circle resources, free for all to view.
A curious side-effect of this regenerated profile for the circle mystery has been the emergence of new characters claiming to be its human creators, keen to make a name for themselves and ‘own’ the phenomenon in some way. One supposedly retired circlemaker has even been openly sharing online accounts of his alleged past activities, with a book to follow, highlighting his own paranormal encounters in the fields, an interactive area some human circlemakers feel has been neglected.
The issue of how many crop circles are man-made has long been contentious and arguments can turn vicious on social media. The revival of toxic accusations and counteraccusations has become reminiscent of the heyday of the prominent “hoaxers” (or, as they would prefer, artists) of the 1990s and 2000s when a similar circus entertained the croppie world before everyone got bored. With an outside world full of deeper woes, these niche conflicts are little more than storms in teacups, but it is an interesting sign that the circles now matter enough again to warrant such renewed skirmishing.
The claimed rise of new amateur circlemakers, the shakier products from whom are considered to be pretty obvious by seasoned observers, raise a key question. With so few crop circles in general in this new normal, why are the less obvious circlemakers – whoever or whatever they are, extra-terrestrial, extra-dimensional, psychic or natural forces – on such a go-slow? There were just 20 formations worldwide in 2025 – slightly up on the previous year at least – with some of those known or strongly suspected to be the work of human artists. Is it, as these articles have speculated before, that the times of huge change some felt the circles heralded are now here and that their purpose is essentially fulfilled, or is this some kind of calm before a storm of renewed activity? Will the circles be replaced by something even more wildly paranormal? Some believe the current upsurge in UFOs/UAP and ever-growing talk of possible official disclosure suggests such a direction.
But the agriglyph phenomenon is not done yet. For the most part, unless a formation is known or heavily suspected to have been man-made, the following reports of what we did receive stick to the usual rules of observing solely what was in the fields and the innate qualities displayed. Beyond that, readers must feel their own way into which patterns appear to emanate from deeper realms. For all the controversies, these remarkable shapes continue to inspire and excite people; some have long believed that this, above all, justifies their existence, irrespective of origin.
The Scene is Set
The first hints that this would be a fractious year in the circle community came when the first formation of the season arrived at Wimborne Minster, Dorset, on 11 April [pictured]. A simple thin ring around a small central circle in a yellow rapeseed (canola) field, it was neat enough at first glance. Due to overt accusations of it being man-made, however, it was not reported on some of the main ‘croppie’ websites or was relegated to obscure pages, as several others would be. From the main 2025 listings of the Crop Circle Connector website, for instance, one would assume there were only six formations this year. The non-reporting of circles not liked by individuals has long been an area of contention, especially among those who feel that all patterns should be documented.
Nonetheless, as rumours flew of a new human circlemaking team in the Dorset/Somerset area, anything that appeared in those counties throughout the summer immediately aroused suspicions – especially if first reported by members of the very same group in areas not previously known for prolific circle activity. This is not proof that every formation there was man-made but from such circumstances are disputes inevitably kindled.
The next event was treated very differently and was felt to be of the ‘right’ kind, whatever that might mean. At Sutton Veny in Wiltshire on 15 May [pictured], a ringed circle featured a beautiful central Celtic-style ribbon of four petals seemingly wrapped symmetrically around a square of standing crop. Crisply made and somehow in harmony with the tractor lines circling clumps of trees in the field either side of it, it made for a fine sight and encouraged hope for more of this calibre.
Speaking of trees, Dorset was revisited on 18 May at Culliford Tree barrows near Weymouth. Not far from the ancient rounded burial mounds that give the site its name, this production was a complex vesica piscis (two intersecting circles) further elaborated by two lozenge shapes and thin radiating paths on one side, incorporating a triangular flattened area. When viewed as a diagram, the illusion was given of looking through the end of a tube. The pattern was tucked slightly awkwardly into the very corner of the field.
Back to Base
Avebury in Wiltshire has long been the global epicentre of all circular activity. This year’s sole entry there arrived on 8 June in the shape of a ten-fold mandala of circles on stalks emanating from a ten-pointed star with a central standing ring, the whole contained within a thin ring [pictured]. Every other circle had a slightly smaller diameter. The textured ridges and ‘nests’ of crop in some parts of the lay gave the pattern something of a sculpted look from above.
Wiltshire’s next formation on 10 June was back at an ancient site, the mysterious 30-meter-deep Wilsford Shaft near Winterbourne Stoke, but was inevitably dismissed as nothing more than a joke, depicting some kind of elaborate smiling jester’s face with two projecting horns. Comprised mainly of thin lines rather than large areas of flat crop, and efficiently made, there were curious details and unconventionally placed pathways that seemed beyond the call of duty for a mere basic prank. ‘Face’ designs have always proved controversial; several crass smiley-faces have been seen over the years, but more ambitious ET visages have also been depicted which have been accepted as unexplained by many researchers.
‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ in June
On 15 June, Kingsdon in Somerset saw the arrival of an eight-fold star comprising elongated cone shapes on thin (rather bendy) stalks extending from a central circle, laid in the now familiar ‘basket weave’ effect of criss-crossing swathes. Initially attractive, its lack of precision concerned some, but it was an unusual design.
Every now and then, for all the fancier examples, single circles still make an appearance and Hungary’s only event (the first for several years) in 2025 was discovered at Lajoskomárom in Fejér County on 19 June. Only 30 feet across or so, it still attracted many visitors, who soon left messy entry paths all around it, as the circle was, significantly, well between the tractor marks.
Another pattern familiar from earlier decades made itself known at Hackpen Hill, Wiltshire on 22 June [pictured]. In a field oft visited by the phenomenon, a neat Celtic cross around a small central circle was rendered more striking by being contained within a thick outer ring and felt reassuringly traditional and precise.
Also impressive, but of less mystery, was Italy’s sole offering this year (reported 23 June), generally attributed to being the annual project of the artist Francesco Grassi. These works are rumoured to take several days to plan and construct (and yet many formations are known to have appeared within very short time periods) and no firm location has been given for this. A seven-fold flower of thin paths with extruding flattened petals, the small standing pillars of crop left in them, resembling perhaps star constellations, are a recurring feature of Grassi’s work.
The rather irregular S-shaped path with seven circles at each end found at Charlton, Somerset, also on 23 June, was widely considered to be man-made for different reasons, demonstrating what looked like sloppy construction and errors, and again placed uncomfortably near the edge of the field. The classic CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) symbol which appeared next day on 24 June adjacent to the site of the famous Glastonbury Festival at Pilton in Somerset just before the event was neater but rather stiff-looking and generally presumed – without evidence, it should be stated – to be a human statement.
The final formation of the month raised the stakes, however. On 28 June near Lyme Regis , just inside the county of Devon but bordering on Dorset, there was a significant leap in quality [pictured]. A ring of 15 thick standing overlapped rings were looped around a separate central standing ring and its precision and striking nature was hard to resist. Only a couple of hundred metres from the sea, its position also made for attractive aerial photographs. Neatly laid, this was one of the more loved patterns of the season.
An Early End
In former days of glory, July would generally be the peak of frenzied activities in the fields, with a few bonus entries the month after before the harvest came in; in these strange days for the circles there were just four full creations in July and one curious addendum, followed by a minor development in August.
Somerset was revisited again on 6 July at Littleton, this time with two simple circles, the larger one employing the basket weave effect. Although effectively in the same field, the two were separated by a farm track running between them.
Cerne Abbas in Dorset is best known for a different kind of glyph, in the form of its well-endowed club-bearing ancient chalk figure. On 10 July the ‘giant’ found himself joined a few fields away by the unnerving spectacle of a huge spider [pictured]. Undeniably ingenious, the spider motif was created from a complex lattice of twelve thin overlapping rings, with some parts filled in to indicate its legs and body. The body, from some angles, resembled a frightening face with cat-like eyes and a gaping mouth, while its abdomen exhibited the basket weave effect once more. For all its elaborate qualities and attention even from mainstream media it wasn’t trusted enough to make it onto some main croppie listings, creating further disquiet and disputes.
The line of mystical symbols at Ludwell, Wiltshire, on 12 July [pictured] found itself more to traditionalist’s liking . A beautifully constructed standing pentacle within a ring was encompassed by thin crescents either side, with two small circles at each end. The lay of the pentacle displayed a radiating double-image effect, as if it were glowing, while the small circles were good examples of a now common but always pleasing technique of a band of radiating flattened stems surrounding a conventional swirl.
Perhaps the most immediately impressive event of the year occurred around 20 July in Germany at the Bavarian village of Frieding, near Andechs in the Starnberg district . Germany was once a busy place for crop formations but, like most of the rest of the world, now only activates here and there. Resembling something like an old, spiked sea mine [pictured] or a 10-pronged nanotech virus seen in 3-D, the whole was contained within a ring of ‘Mayan’-looking rectangular curlicues. Like the pentacle in the Wiltshire formation before it, the lay around the central motif radiated a shimmering halo effect and overall it was something to behold.
In another English connection, it was soon spotted that the German masterpiece closely matched a design that appeared at Lane End Down in Hampshire in 2005; there, a six-spiked object had been surrounded by a showering of tiny circles, like stars. The German version appeared in an area where other formations near there had been suspected to be complex ‘art projects’, thus there were the expected sceptical whisperings and talk of the formation being “too good”. But then the same whisperings are made when a pattern is seen to be “bad”, so it seems the phenomenon can never win. See below for more thoughts on this.
Another chalk figure, albeit less obscene than the Cerne Abbas giant, found itself the centre of attention on 25 July at Wilmington in East Sussex [pictured] when it looked as if the famous Long Man carving had gone walkabout, leaving two neat footprints, complete with toes, in the wheat field below it, with what looked like a symbolic splash of liquid nearby. Efficiently-made, they were generally considered to have been an as-yet undeclared publicity stunt, but with no evidence for that at the time of writing – and a very angry farmer – the unusual markings raised new intrigue in an area which was once a busy site for circles.
The final event of the summer arrived at Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire on 27 August after an unexpectedly bare month. Once again of the kind that would have fascinated researchers in the 1970s and 80s but which few seem interested in today, it was a small single circle. Perhaps such a simple close to the season was apt – a literal full stop to a variable cycle that did produce wonders but also left people wondering about the future of the circles.
After the apparent full stop, there was one very late addendum, however, at Ipuaçu, Santa Catarina, in Brazil on 3 November. A mandala of rings and triangles around a small central circle, it was neat enough and suggested that things were not over yet.
Twilight – But Not Yet Night
In an era when the number of crop designs that really ‘sing’ to people has dropped so noticeably, can beggars be choosers? It is interesting to see the revived profile of those who claim to make circles and their effective call to treat what they create as being equally valid to ‘other’ kinds of formations. If both move and inspire humanity, they ask, what’s the problem? The insinuation that they are somehow being guided by ethereal forces to come up with their creations is another idea that has grown, despite the more cynical seeing this theory as no less fantastical than the notion of mysterious forces making them directly.
Are the Non-Human Intelligences behind the ‘others’ now so lethargic that they mostly just leave things to their human successors, influencing them remotely, and only occasionally throw down something of their own to shake things up? Or is the talk of people somehow being guided from above just a cheap smokescreen to deflect from the fact that they don’t really make that many – and a justification for what is, it should be noted, blatant vandalism at a time when farmers struggle to make ends meet. Off-worlders keen to make a point, should they care about human agricultural affairs, might argue that a wider agenda justifies their actions, but can humans really use that caveat? Indeed, the police eventually became aware of the Dorset claimants when they got too loud with their intimations and were reported by members of the public, a development thought by some to explain the sudden dearth of events in August.
There has been more than enough evidence accumulated over the years (as the CCRA website makes clear) that there is a very real unsolved enigma in the fields that people eventually copied but did not begin. From eye-witness accounts to biological plant changes, geological correlations, extraordinary weaving and layering and exquisite geometry as just a few criteria, it is clear the crop circles have never been adequately explained and possibly never will be. Full clarity would seem not to be part of the purpose, assuming there is one; the very mystery pulls us forward to investigate further and look more deeply inside ourselves, something considered by some to be crucially inherent to the underlying agenda.
With this in mind, the vandalism issue aside, could it be argued that where each crop circle comes from is therefore now irrelevant if it contributes to a wider cultural effect? With few people making serious forensic examinations at a ground level anymore and with both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ formations doubted in equal measure, as seen above, perhaps a new attitude needs to be fostered and a new question asked – are some crop circles better than none or should the human artists be compelled by persuasion or law to stop completely to see what we have left when they do? This idea has been put forward before as a scientific experiment worth trying. Making this happen and trusting the word of those perfectly happy to trespass and damage property would be a difficult task, of course. But then again, if some fuller UFO disclosure or undeniable arrival of ETs does occur, all this might quickly become irrelevant.
The reality is that the circles are still here, for all the oddness of the current times, and continue to inspire thoughts and feelings in observers about the world around them. Those who endlessly hypothesise online that the symbolism of this or that crop glyph indicates some imminent astronomical disaster or coming apocalypse don’t move on much, despite not a single prediction having come true over 30 years of speculation, but it does indicate that crop circles still hold some people’s attention for all the media cynicism.
This summer STRANGE: Paranormal Realities in the Everyday World came out (published by Watkins Publishing in July), my new book which explores the implications of the many accounts of the paranormal which have been shared with me over my decades of research. Encounters with ghosts, poltergeists, UFOs, out-of-body and near-death experiences, psychic phenomena and many very bizarre happenings are occurring to a shockingly large number of people around the world and demand a new and genuinely open-minded scientific endeavour to start investigating and stop denying.
Crop circles feature in STRANGE, as one might imagine given the many tales of paranormal activity around them, but I am continually surprised when giving interviews about the book how many presenters still want to focus on them, keen to know the latest. As we have seen, the current situation with the circles is ambiguous and indeed strange, and yet here we are still discussing them, wondering what will be next and what the wider context of all this is. This is testament to the continuing power and allure of this remarkable phenomenon; a twilight may have fallen, but few seem convinced that full night is due quite yet. Amen to that.
Andy Thomas
Originally written for Nexus Magazine. All 2025 circle photographs are courtesy of Crop Circle Connector/Stonehenge Dronescapes/Crop Circles From Above/Crop Circles From the Air/Barry Reynolds/Toni Bartl/Ismael Nune da Silva
Other images coordinated by Andy Thomas using ChatGPT. Photos, articles and reports on the 2025 season can be found on Crop Circle Connector.
