Huge crop circles appear overnight in French field

Nearly a dozen circles, the largest some 500 meters in diameter, appeared in a barley field near Sancerre during the night between June 1 and June 2.

Among those who came to look at the circles outside Crézancy-en-Sancer was Didier Chaumien, who drove 20 kilometres with his family on Friday to admire the circles.

“We've never seen anything like this in the region,” he told the France 3 television station. “One wonders how it is done. There is no sign of entry into the field. It's crazy!”

Jean-Paul Millet, who farms the land, was less impressed. He has filed a complaint with the local gendarmerie.

“This represents about 1 hectare, or 6 tons,” he told Le Journal du Centre. He said the folded barley would not yield a crop this year and might force him to replant the field next year. He estimated that the circles would cost him about €1,000.

“It's not very environmentally friendly,” he said. “It’s particularly disagreeable.  I don’t see the point of this sort of thing.”

There have been crop circles in central France before.  Examples appeared in in the Nièvre and Loiret departments in 2012 and there was one near Bourges in 2009.