Wiltshire is about to witness a record crop circle season, according to local expert Michael Glickman.

Mr Glickman, who is an internationally renowned expert in the phenomenon, has just produced his latest book, Crop Circles – The Bones of God, which is a distillation of his 19 years’ investigation.

Mr Glickman said this season has already seen 11 formations of amazing quality in rape, which he described as a very difficult medium.

“The crop circle engineers, whoever they are, are getting better and better at it and interest in the subject is just exploding,” he said.

In his new book, Mr Glickman despairs of those whose automatic reaction is to dismiss all the formations, some of which are huge and very complex, as man made.

He admits that some of them are the work of computer nerds with sticks and lengths of rope, but he says some of could only have been made by someone with the power of flight as the surrounding crop was undisturbed.

He said: “Humanity is very good at averting its eyes from the truth. But the facts are undeniable. Crop circles are the best kept secret on the planet.

“The intelligence behind their creation is prodigious. I have been studying the subject for many years and there are a lot of things I know, but they pale into insignificance beside the things I don’t know.”

Mr Glickman will be signing copies of the book at the Henge Shop, Avebury, on June 6 from 2pm and at Devizes Books on June 30, also at 2pm.