When camper Wayne Parry was disturbed in the middle of the night, the last thing he expected to find was a crop circle.

As he peered out of his tent he was amazed to see a huge five-circle design just a few feet away.

Some might say the pattern was created by hoaxers but Wayne, 27, is convinced it is the work of aliens.

The facilities cleaner, who was taking advantage of the warm summer nights and camping in barley crops near Coldean Lane, Brighton, claimed there was no way hoaxers could have got into the field without waking him.

Wayne, of Shanklin Road, Brighton, said: "I was very shocked indeed when I woke up - I've never seen a crop circle before.

"They were not there at 10pm when I went to sleep. Where I was camping there is a metal gate and I would have heard them climb over it. There is no way they could have got past."

The circle is hidden from the A27 by trees and consists of two concentric circles with three smaller filled circles apparently orbiting the outside.

Wayne, who works at Asda in Hollingbury, Brighton, said extra-terrestrials could have had a hand in making them because there were no trails leading to the creation.

He said: "The circles are too perfectly formed for someone to have done this.

"They only had a space of a couple of hours to do it. There's no explanation I can give except the usual explanation that this is UFOs.

"It's a nice design, quite psychedelic, and it is a great view from my tent."

An investigation is to be launched by experts from Southern Circular Research, based in Sussex, to find out if the latest design is a hoax.

Andy Thomas, 39, author of the crop circle book Vital Signs and editor of Swirled News, said the field had become a hot spot for suspected UFO visits.

He said: "This is a very interesting case because the guy was there but didn't hear anything.

"When we have conducted hand-made demonstrations it does make a lot of noise with people crunching in the field.

"We've had surveillance experiments before where a crop circle has appeared near equipment caravans without us hearing a thing.

"This field has seen formations for the past 15 years. Nobody knows where these have come from.

"It's a mystery and I could not possibly say what is going on here."

David Taylor, 52, the tenant farmer who owns the crop, said he had lost hundreds of pounds because of the damage but he thought it was more likely to be the work of hoaxers than aliens.

He said: "I've no idea where this circle has come from but to blame it on aliens may be a little far-fetched."

The first crop circle to appear in Sussex this year was created in the centre of a field of oilseed rape.

The 260ft wide shape with spiral arms sprang up at Tegdown Hill, near Patcham, Brighton.

There was a spate of sightings last year, including a strange pattern found in an oilseed rape field on Newmarket Hill, near Woodingdean, in May.