There have been several comments from different parties on how forum members react to the interaction between other forum members regarding their varied views on metal-detecting as a whole.

The overall view is that all forums reflect exactly the same scenario as metal-detecting clubs.
Clubs and forums are made up of a very similar types of members such as, and in no particular order:
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• Cliques
• Couples
• Newbies
• Antagonists
• Occasional detectorists
• Beach permissions only
• Those seeking information to increase their results
• Buddy seekers
• Machine focused
• Accessory focused
• Permission seekers
• Serious detectorists
• Middle of the road detectorists
• Basic detectorists (hobbyists)
• Bullies (especially desktop warriors)
• Those with Insecurity issues (some severe)
• Envious members
• Those that want to share their good fortunes and ideas

This list may be endless, but it summarises just some of the typical members of a club or forum.

In a "normal" world you should be able to show your finds with only positive comments as this alone should be sufficient.

You've got to ask the question as to why you may get totally negative and derogatory comments when they are not constructive.
Indeed, a majority of the negative comments are totally unfounded and have no place in a forum or any other public place or platform.

The initial analysis of club/forum psychology is that the following is noted, again in no particular order:

• Finding "normal" stuff ie; Victorian, Georgian is widely accepted by the club/forum.
• Finding small amounts of "good" stuff ie Medieval/Roman may also be tolerated.
• Finding several "good" finds is not acceptable to the point of being rejected by a club or some forum members. Unfortunately this is a fact as this happened to us after winning "Find of the Year" three years on-the-run at our local club. They changed the rules!
• Having minimal permissions is cynically acceptable.
• Having several permissions in 8 counties is not acceptable.
• The use of "small" and "simple" words are only allowed when writing on a forum so as not to upset those grammatically challenged.
• Using actual "real world" words such as "survey" and  "professional" are frowned upon and mocked by the less experienced forum/club members, again reflecting the above statement.
• Searching inefficiently at the cost of missing finds is acceptable ie; snail-trailing or "zig-zagging" as described by a forum member.
• Reluctance to accept/acknowledge successful search techniques.
• Reluctance to accept 100% proven advice over several disciplines.
• Closed minds that won't allow any good ideas to come to fruition.
• Bitter back-biting within clubs and forums.
• A very small number of club/forum members that openly accept and acknowledge the success of other forum/club members with no fear of publishing their views.

We can't believe how fast the year is flying by!
On the way to our latest permission "JHF1" we saw a herd of deer and a barn owl so wondered if this was an omen to good fortune? In the past (no pun) we've seen quite a few barn owls hunting and usually had a good day afterwards.

Anyway, here we were at our latest permission "JHF1" and yet another planned recce using the "Zebra" principle to cover the chosen three fields. 
The first field had advanced OSR so that was the end of that survey!

The second field was 23-acres and drilled with spring wheat. The "Zebra" method proved a great success in checking the background history there which turned out to be very low. A small amount of green waste here but a Post Medieval dress hook and a fragment of C14th rim sherd were recovered. We won't be going back to this one!

The third field was badly contaminated with green waste!
Thats another field off the list that won't have a future survey.
With that, we decided instead to re-visit the 44 acre field that we recced last week.
This field is a "198 hour field" and we spent 6 hours there last week. This meant that we had another 192 hours to go to cover this 100%.
The field had just been seeded with spring barley and provided a fantastic opportunity to check for all surface finds as the photo below shows.
It wasn't long before the first Medieval artefacts came to light. These were mostly Medieval (C14th) buckles and strapend plates. 
A couple of Roman coins emerged although not much pottery was found with only one piece of RB greyware and a few sherds of Medieval being recovered.
A denarius, a siliqua, a silvered Roman coin, three grots and a hammered coin were recovered. We spent 30 hours in this field so according to our calculations we have another 132 hours left!!!

We could see that some serious weather was on its way and with the sound of very angry thunder overhead, that was our cue to quit.
Just as the last piece of equipment was loaded into the support vehicle and the rear panels were shut the heavens opened - big style!! 

The machines were set up with the 13" x 11" coils using the standard GMP mode and GB set to "Tracking". 

​Seeing it was 7:15pm we called into the local chippy for astounding fish n chips.......
Not sure where we'll be next weekend but I'm sure it will be interesting!

The images of the day's recoveries can be seen here.

There have been several opinions on how people should approach the "hobby" of metal-detecting and how to achieve their highest personal enjoyment of the hobby. The difference is extremely wide in what people expect, or indeed, what they want out of the hobby.
I've tried to take in all the angles and views that detectorists have with regards to detecting and their perception of happiness/contentedness.

With the following justifications in mind I asked a detectorist very recently this question "On a scale of one to ten, how much would you like to find a "hammy" or Roman on each visit?". The answer was a resounding TEN. This detectorist had only found ONE Roman coin and ONE "hammy" in 24 months of detecting. Obviously he would be much happier achieving the TEN that he would like to aspire to.
My next question to him was "How are you going to achieve that TEN?".
He was honest and hadn't a clue of how to achieve this but none-the-less would love to reach this goal. I was in exactly the same position in October 2010. I'm satisfied that the gap between the one and ten is now a lot narrower for me at this moment in time.
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Each area below has its own justification without exception..

There are several aspects to the perception of "detecting" and as to what "pleasure" participants get out of this pastime. 
There appears to be several levels to this, to describe but just a few are as follows and in no particular order; 

• Beach detectorists looking for modern gold and coinage with a slim chance of anything that would qualify for PAS
• A low level of focus to a point where enjoying the ambient environment is far higher than an interest in recovering artefacts or coins. ie; minimal outings per year with very little research and with a strong hope in finding history.
• As above but may get out more frequently, say once or twice a month.
• As above but may get out between two or four times per month.
• An interest in recovering artefacts and coins with no interest in the ambient environment. ie; pure hobbyists.
• An equal interest in both the ambient environment and recovering artefacts and coins. ie; those that appreciate the natural environment whilst detecting and are quite happy to find something of interest once-in-a-while.
• A higher focus in recovering artefacts and coins with an interest in the ambient environment. ie; those that have researched the history of the search but are also aware or the natural environment.
• An almost semi-professional level of interest in both the recovery of history and with a similar level of interest in the environment. For example; pushing the boundaries of detecting to the ultimate and being able to identify each individual bird song or many other clues within the environment.

Of course, there will be levels in between all of the above points including everything from "affectionately fantasizing" what objects may exist in the ground below your coil to the level of "what does exist there". 
"Hobbyists" have to be honest to themselves as to what level they are pitched at and not concern themselves with those that seek more from detecting. As I say, if you're at the first point in the list above you've got to be extremely happy at that level and enjoy that fact.
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As a team, we've gone for the last option as there isn't scope for "fondly imagining" or letting "affectionate" thoughts detract from the project in hand. That's just the way we think as a team and it has resulted in a consistent record of great finds. 
We thoroughly enjoy what we do with a passion. I can honestly say that we are 99.99% happy in what we do. So whatever category you fall in ... enjoy and don't attack, moan, groan, complain or argue against what is obviously working for some.

On a personal level, I myself engage in outdoor activities that will result in all the aspects that I love about the great outdoors. Whether that is tracking some of Britain's rarest birds to tracking and filming our shyest and only venomous snake, the adder. I've been very fortunate to film the "Dance of the Adders" twice in one morning! 

So in essence, I love to detect as I can bring together all that I love in life and that includes finding some great archaeology and spotting some of the most intriguing natural goings-on imaginable! 

There was just the two of team available this morning so it was with gusto that Rob and I set off for one of our latest permissions, JHF1.

We set off just as dawn was breaking and only a couple of miles from home we saw a barn owl hunting. We always joke that this is a good omen.
And what a beautiful morning it was too! Gorgeous sunshine and wispy clouds, it really did feel like it was Spring. With the knowledge that the days are now actually longer than the nights we knew we had a good stint ahead of us.
 
We decided that because we were going to survey a new 44-acre (198 single man hours) field we would use the PAST version of the “Union Jack” method of which we’ve dubbed the “Zebra” method. The field was seeded with spring barley.
 
On the first pass we detected copious amounts of small ferrous signals and pieces of lead which is usually a good sign. We also recovered a large fragment of a Roman crossbow fibula and a Saxon buckle depicting the “beast biting the bar” at the junction of the tongue swivel bar.
The fibula interestingly enough was hollow at the curved shank which would have been a definite weak point, hence the break.
Three hours later we had a couple of Roman grots, 6 fragments of Roman pottery, a Georgian lead figurine of a lead tiger, a Cartwheel penny and two knapped flint scrapers.
With another 192 hours search tome for this field, we decided to recce the next planned three fields to assess them for settlement evidence. We may re-visit the 44-acre field as soon as we can.
No evidence of settlement was apparent although there were two fragments of C13th – C14th pottery. These fields however were still in a rough ploughed state so we didn’t spend too long on them. With that, we had lunch and had a chat with the estates gamekeeper.
 
The next port of call was a field we had a look at earlier in the year. This was only a 7.5-acre field so we did a mix of 90 degrees and following the winter wheat lines. We managed to recover 5 hammered coins, a Roman grot, a Medieval finger ring fragment, 4 Medieval belt mounts, 3 strapend fragments, an early lead bale seal and a couple of buckles.
It just goes to show that when the crop lines crisscross each other to accommodate the field shape it can disrupt the accuracy of the expected coverage.
Most of these signals were missed due to the coil not passing over them as they sounded great! The farthings however gave low 40’s numbers but a small target area hence almost a “blip”. These could have been missed either because it was perceived that they were pieces of foil perhaps?
 
This 7.5-acre field has a disproportionate amount of Medieval artefacts, coins and pottery within it.
As a reference 17 hammered coins have been recovered in 3 visits and that’s even after it has been nighthawked!
 
We called in to see Mr & Mrs Landowner and were warmly invited into their home to catch up with various topics as we’d not seen them for a couple of months. We showed them the finds and were amazed at how small the farthings are.
A field that has part of a Medieval village in it is being drilled in late April and a pasture field is having grazing sheep on it in about 4 weeks’ time. This should be fun as we don’t often survey pasture!

​On the way home we saw another barn owl hunting over the hedgerows.
 
Images of the day’s recoveries can be seen here.

​What a super day (for a change!) to return to a permission (MC) that we haven’t been to since last October!
The survey was going to be split over four different areas; a large winter barley field, the remainder of a winter wheat field, a new area of another winter wheat field and a newly harrowed field.
 
The first field was fairly quiet apart from thousands of small ferrous signals.
After 4 hours in there we decided to re-visit the field we were in last October.
 
We found our markers still standing where we'd left them and carried on from exactly where we’d left off last year.
A lovely Iron Age belt slider (eye type) was recovered from 3 inches. A little later a nice denarius of Hadrian came up from 4 inches. A few Roman grots also emerged as well as thirty pieces of Romano-British pottery covering at least four types. A nice chatelaine fragment was a pleasure to see.
Having now covered the main area of this Roman settlement we left for field number three.
 
This was the harrowed field that we’d had a look at early last year. A few Roman and some Medieval coins were recovered at that time.
The soil was very “fluffy” and soft and we didn’t have a signal at all on the first pass. On the second pass a fragment of a Medieval dress hook and a very nice sixpence of William III 1696 was recovered.
The landowners’ son arrives on his quad to check on how dry the soil was for drilling. I asked how deep had he ploughed it to which he replied “it hasn’t been ploughed just harrowed to a depth of four inches”. No wonder we weren’t getting many signals!
Some nice flint scrapers were found here too.
 
With that info we visited a new area that was in winter wheat but this was very quiet. Only a couple of items were recovered here, one being a nice Celtic style mount fitting and the other item was a Medieval plate and rivet fixing.
A brilliant surprise was a barn owl hopping over the hedgerow and flying around the field at THREE O’ CLOCK in bright sunshine!!!!
 
The machines were set up as usual; GMP standard with “Tracking” and large coils.

For images of the day's finds click here.

The PAST Version of the Union Jack - The Bigger Picture
Our version of the “Union Jack” method utilizes the tractor tracks that are used when spraying the crop during growth. These tractor tracks are usually 24 metres apart (depending on spray boom width) and are accurate to 20mm (left/right) where the farmer has used highly accurate industry standard GPS.
Knowing it will take a minimum of 346 hours for one person to search fully, you can instead split it into 24-metre-wide segments marked by the tractor tracks. This will reduce the time dramatically whilst still cutting through accurate swathes of the field. As you can see, there are 23 of these tractor tracks running north-south in this example. If there are three of you, each can choose a line and when completed leap frog to the next line and so on.
One person would take 21 hours’ minimum to cover the 23 lines, that is 11395mtrs in travel. Three people would take 7 hours (a detecting day almost) to do the same but in doing so will have built up a good picture of what is or isn’t there. If after covering the 23 tracks, you don’t find lots of pottery or indeed don’t get many signals you know that there is little evidence of habitation or use there. ​

The weekend started off with a visit to 'The Collection' in Lincoln and the very first PAS conference outside London.
On the way we called in for breakfast at, would you believe... Flo's Cafe!
It turns out that Flo was full of the joys of spring and adorned with a personality second to none.

The start of the conference saw the head of PAS, Michael Lewis, give an overview of how PAS has helped change the face of archaeology forging a closer liaison with metal-detectorists in Britain. Michael also highlighted the vision ahead to further enhance how PAS both works with detectorists and raising the profile and knowledge available to the British public.
It was also a chance to meet some of the forum members that attended.

We left early to catch up with one of our permissions in the county.
The first port of call was a 4 acre field that was still in a roughly ploughed state. We decided that this was a perfect opportunity to see the maximum amount of pottery before rolling. This decision was absolutely spot on with several pieces of fourteenth century pottery recovered and the bonus of a few metallic finds too.

We had a night out in Lincoln, trying out a couple of pubs and ending up at a great Indian restaurant. Poppadoms & bits, garlic naan, a mixed Pawala dish, Vindaloo sauce and Pilau rice, then for mains......

The next day started off with more food; a full English breakfast with coffee, tea, toast and blueberry muffins!
With breakfast over we returned to one of our Lincolnshire sites.
Unfortunately the weather must have been very wet overnight as the fields were very sticky indeed! It was almost impossible to detect effectively.
With that in mind we did a mix of fieldwalking and detecting where and when we could. The fields were a mix of winter wheat and rough plough.

We'd noted an area through research that warranted further investigation and sure enough evidence emerged that there had been serious habitation there. Fantastic pieces of pottery, lots of sea shell clusters, animal bones and teeth including wild boar tusks. This evidence may prove to show results when we return to the area once it's rolled and seeded.
We also found lots of pottery in several areas adjacent to the road showing that it had been dumped there 800 years ago as "fly tipping".
Another area was also identified with copious amounts of pottery and food evidence such as sea shells with more animal teeth and bones.

In all we identified at least three areas that justify a full survey just as soon as he fields are rolled and seeded. That will probably be at the end of March or early April. The pottery evidence alone amounted to over 100 fragments weighing in at 3.112kg!

Seeing that we'd come to the end of our recce we decided to travel to West Yorkshire and visit a permission I'd not been to for three years.
A quick call to the landowner and all was ok.. he did warn me it was wet!
It wasn't too bad but we only had a couple of hours of daylight left.
Apart from more sherds of Medieval pottery not many metallic items came to light.

​Images of the weekend's finds can be seen here.