THE appearance of a crop circle in Test Valley has been creating a buzz around the borough, with hundreds flocking to see the sight.

The formation, which depicts stars and circles, appeared on farmland near Danebury Iron Age Hillfort, Stockbridge, last weekend.

Crop circles, or crop formations, are patterns produced by flattening crops, with many believing that they are manmade, but researcher Paul Jacobs said that for the majority of creations he can “quite confidently rule out human intervention”.

Paul, of the Core Group Initiative, is managing visits to the crop circle on behalf of the farmer.

People can visit for £3 with under 16s free.

The majority of the proceeds are usually donated to the farmer’s chosen charity, with a proportion going compensate for the loss of crop.

Speaking about the Danebury Hill formation, Paul said: “Sometimes they [the crop circles] have letters and messages associated with them. My feeling is that this one is just there to say hello. It is doing a lot of good PR.”

So far Paul said visitor numbers are in the hundreds, with the formation likely to remain for around four weeks until the crops are cut.

Paul came up with the idea of the Core Group Initiative in 2011 as there was conflicts between farmers and visitors in Wiltshire, and fences were broken and land damaged.

“Visitors can come and enjoy themselves and farmers are happy we are looking after his field - it is a much more harmonic situation.”

Along with helping the land owners, the task also allows him to continue his 11 years of research, looking at why crop circles appear and the meaning of their patterns.