THIRTY-FOUR years ago, a mysterious circle appeared in a cornfield just outside of Hereford.

The flattened corn in a field at Whitehall Farm in Hampton Bishop was discovered by then-18-year-old Kier Rogers late one Thursday night in August 1990.

Kier, who had been at the controls of a combine harvester near midnight, had been baffled by the appearance of the circle, which was believed to be the first found in the county.

"I saw the shape in the sidelights of the combine and thought: 'What's going on here.' I stopped and had a look – I'd seen the things on TV – but it was still a bit spooky," Kier told the Hereford Times.

Kier and his father Philip Rogers headed out early the next morning to take pictures of the circle, which measured some 20ft across, with a four-foot wide inner circle and a 24ft arm on either side. A large swathe of the middle of the circle had, however, been unintentionally damaged by a farmhand who drove a combine right through it.

"The only reason the rest of it remained was because the combine broke down as it passed through the circle – perhaps that's the power of it," joked Philip.

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But the farmer was not convinced that the discovery was the work of aliens or humans.

"There's no way it was a prank, the dimensions and widths were perfect and not one head of corn was broken or damaged – it had all fallen flat the same way," said Philip.

"I've heard all the theories, but I think it is the wind that's doing it – it must be nature, she's the only one that can do these things," he said.

And the Hampton Bishop circle was not the only one found in Herefordshire that week.

A second farmer, David Corbett of Ox House Farm, Shobdon, reported a combine driver had discovered a 36ft perfect circle, which he believed to have been formed by wind, on his land – an anomaly that had also been spotted by members of the nearby glider club.

The circles are not the only strange sights reported in Herefordshire over the years.

Declassified Government documents show there have been five reported UFO sightings in Herefordshire since 1997.

The earliest recorded sighting in Herefordshire was reported at Bredenbury at around midnight on November 22, 1997.

A round green shaped object was seen moving west before falling from the sky at a steady rate.

The following year, a UFO was seen hovering above Much Marcle at 11.45pm on April 12.

The report says it had numerous flashing lights of all different colours and hovered in the sky for about 10 minutes.

The files say somebody in Leominster reported seeing a large object the size of an aircraft with a bright light in front of it at 10am on September 23 in 1999.

They said it was “long with wings and had a jet sound and was very fast. It had black smoke coming from the rear”.

In 2003, Ministry of Defence police officers say they saw a stationary triangular object above Hereford at around 8pm on July 8.

It remained stationary for about half an hour at quite a height.

And on September 9, 2006 seven bright orange lights were seen in the sky travelling in a straight line from south to north across the county’s borders.