That's very interesting.  I don't think it's beyond the realm
of possibility that Shuttlewood, a journalist with the local
newspaper, might have fed off the tales out of Tully. Still
interesting nonetheless.

Just an aside that you may not be aware of: Doug Bower
lived in Tully in 1966.

"Terry Wilson" <terryjwilson2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:015Xa.130$F_1.39326@newsfep2-gui.server.ntli.net...
> I am not sure there are "no" reeds about. Shuttlewood's area of activity
> wasn't confined to Cley Hill, but that part of Wilts generally. There are
> surely some reeds somewhere around. This is what he said about his
circles.
> You can call this an anecdote if you wish, but this was commited to print
in
> the 1960s. I will call it a contemporary site report. It specifically
names
> reeds, and gives an indication of the physiology of the circles (plural):
>
> "In late January and early February [1966] in wooded areas usually near
> marshland ... reeds and grass have been curiously flattened in what
> invariably seems to be clockwise fashion, blades swept smoothly inert in
> shallow depressions ... most circles, depressed and clearly formed,
measure
> exactly thirty feet in diameter".
> Ref: A. Shuttlewood, THE WARMINSTER MYSTERY, Tandem, 1967, p153.
>
> Compare with a news cutting from Jan 1966, Australia:
>
> "The first nest is about 30 foot in diameter. The reeds are flattened in a
> clockwise direction and surrounded by healthy green reeds".
>
> So either Shuttlewood subscribed to an Australian local paper and then
lied
> about the whole thing, or we have a considerable conicidence. Whatever -
> flattened circles with directional lay, are by definition, the core of the
> phenomenon we see today.