Radio listener comes a right cropper!

"Hang on, we're driving, I'll pull over......What? They're going to make it for real and I get the helicopter flight? Fantastic!!" It is not the kind of call you expect while out shopping!

Robert Evans from Dilton Marsh near Westbury in Wiltshire is the winner of one of the country's most unique competitions and all it took was a tray, a few grass seeds, some compost and a creative mind! Hey presto! A miniature crop circle.

In June this year BBC Radio Swindon and BBC Radio Wiltshire launched a competition to coincide with the crop-circle season. "It's always about this time of year some pretty strange things start happening in fields throughout Wiltshire and, when a crop circle appears, people from around the world get very excited" says Afternoon Show presenter Graham Seaman who came up with the idea.

The next task was to develop some way of getting listeners to design and grow their own miniature crop circles. Enter gardening expert BERT HOARE. Bert suggested compressing compost into seed trays then using a pencil to mark out a design, before sprinkling grass seeds into the drawn lines and simply adding water!

"We asked people to send us two photographs of their designs. The winning entry will be made, full-size, at Roves Farm, Sevenhampton in Highworth near Swindon. Mr. Evans will fly in a helicopter to take pictures of his design from the air!" says Graham.


The judging for the competition took place on Wednesday 6 August at the BBC studios in Old Town Swindon. The judges included Matthew Williams who will make the full-size version of the design, Rupert Burr who owns Roves Farm visitor farm and local gardening expert Bert Hoare

Robert was announced as the over all winner on the BBC Radio Swindon & BBC Radio Wiltshire Breakfast Shows today Friday 8 August. The full-size crop circle on 11 August, taken from Robert's design, will be made by Matthew Williams who says, "my team will probably take most of the night to complete the project so that it's ready by first light Tuesday morning, we'll be working in darkness but it's surprising how your eyes adjust"