It was getting late in the day and the light was fading as I started making my way down from the hillfort on Yeavering Bell in March 2004 when I spotted some sheep behaving oddly in the distance.

For about ten minutes the sheep formed a circle and patiently walked around and around on the side of West Hill. The photograph here is the best I could obtain given the fading light and the lack of an optical zoom on my Olympus C120.

Searching the internet for sheep circles I have come across and, indeed, have even been sent, a bewildering variety of theories as to why this odd behaviour takes place.

My own theory, which sadly doesn't take extraterrestrial visitors or crop circles into account, is simply this: The sheep are all following the tail of the sheep in front. They think they are in a line of sheep going somewhere. However the sheep are passing through gaps in the walls on the hillside and cannot see that there is no real lead sheep and that they are, in fact, going nowhere!

Of couse... If you know better then I would love to hear the truth..!