Last updated at 10:03 11 July 2006

The world's first three-dimensional crop circle has been discovered deep in the English countryside, sparking the start of the corn circle season.

Experts have been left in awe of the intricacy of the latest sighting, which is 360-feet in diameter, on a wheat field in Oxfordshire.

The formation gives an impression of looking down on skyscrapers from above and was only spotted last week by a microlite pilot.

Steve Alexander, a crop circle photographer of more than 15 years, said: "I thought it was a groundbreaking formation. We have not seen anything like it before.

"The floor lay and the way the design appears to weave in and out has never been seen before, certainly not that I am aware.

"It is the first of its kind and is a very, very powerful thing to look at.

"There is a lot of symbolic number play at work here. The square in ancient times represented the material world.

"The move from a two-dimensional square into a three-dimensional cube might indicate that these patterns emanate from a dimension of reality we cannot access.

"Of late the crop circles seem concerned with the moving of one dimension into another. This is perhaps one of the most striking and overt expressions of that idea to date.

"The crop circle community is very excited about this event."

The site is less than a quarter of a mile from the Uffington White Horse and Wayland's Smithy, a Neolithic burial chamber built in 3700 and 3400 BC.

Slow season

Crop circles are often found near ancient sites but the significance of this particular design has been increased by the fact this has been the slowest season for more than ten years.

Steve, 34, of Gosport, Hants, added: "It has been a slow start, one of the quietest years since 1993 which makes it even more impressive.

"I have been studying them since the late eighties and it is one of the best two formations I have ever seen.

"A lot of people are getting very excited at something so unique and I cannot wait to visit it at ground level."

Some residents in the nearby village of Ashbury have claimed it to be a hoax due to the nature of the way the sighting spread across the Internet once it had been discovered.

Within hours sites dedicated to crop circles had featured it on their pages and it quickly became the talk of the crop circle community.

Steve said: "It is very difficult to say what it's purpose is and how it got there but how could somebody create such an intricate design overnight.

"They would have seven hours of darkness to cut it in the wheat and such a formation would be near on impossible to create in such a small space of time."