Two Norwegian crop circle enthusiasts have told how armed police officers swooped on a farm at Allington near Devizes after they were confronted by an angry man with a gun.

But the farmer whose land it was says the gunman was legitimately shooting pigeons.

Norwegian language school teachers Eva-Marie Brekkesto and Guro Parvanova, were visiting a crop circle on land at Manor Farm, Allington, on Monday afternoon when they heard shooting.

Mrs Brekkesto, who is the founder of the Norwegian Crop Circle research group, said: “When we came into the crop circle formation we heard a gunshot, quickly followed by one more. We were a bit shocked, it was quite close, then a man appeared shouting ‘ get out of the field, you are on private land’.”

They started to leave the field but Mrs Brekkesto, 52, went back to speak to the gunman to find out what the problem was.

She said: “I said ‘sorry, why are you shouting?’ I asked him if he was the farmer. He said no but had been hired by the farmer to prevent people from going into the crop circle.

“He was wearing a camouflage uniform, had a mask on his face and nearby was a camouflage tent. He was holding a long gun and was very angry to start with but then he calmed down. He did not shoot at us, he was pointing the gun in the air. He said we could come back after 4pm because he would not be there.”

As they were leaving Mrs Brekkesto phoned a friend, who in turn phoned the police.

The Wiltshire Police helicopter and armed police officers went to the farm where they arrested and handcuffed a man in the field on suspicion of using a firearm to cause fear or violence.

He was taken to Melksham Police Station and later released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Mrs Brekkesto first visited the crop circle on Friday and said there had been many other enthusiasts visiting it.

The Norwegian ladies have visited Wiltshire for the last ten years viewing crop circles and are staying in a holiday cottage in Devizes.

Mrs Brekkesto said: “We were very shocked by the incident. We are not nutheads, we are civilised, intelligent people, who are interested in the crop circle phenomenon.

“In about 75 per cent of cases farmers are okay with us entering their fields in a civilised way but there are some nasty, stubborn farmers who think there is a war going on. Why not set up a system for people to buy a licence to visit a crop circle and the money goes to the farmer?”

Mrs Parvanova, 59, said: “Being confronted by the man with the gun was surreal and ridiculous. We are harmless. We would never damage a plant and we go out of our way to follow the tramlines on fields.”

Manor Farm, a dairy and arable farm, is run by brothers Richard and Philip Oram.

Richard Oram said the man had his permission to use his land to shoot pigeons.

Mr Oram said: “He certainly wasn’t hired by us. He was pigeon shooting. It was all perfectly innocent. Those people (the Norwegian ladies) should not have been out there because they were trespassing.”

Mr Oram said he and his brother mow out crop circles when they arise and do not encourage crop circle visitors.

“I think crop circles are pure vandalism. I reckon each crop circle costs £1,000 in lost grain and damage caused. Not one of the crop circle people have come in to ask permission to walk into the field which annoys us. If we walked into their garden they would jump up and down, ” he said.

Sgt Andy Peach said: “We had a complaint from a member of the public that a man had been shooting in the area believed to be over the heads of people.

“We had a report of a serious incident and for the protection and safety of the general public armed officers attended. A 62-year-old man, of Oldham, was arrested at the scene and his shotgun was seized.”