Today we had a trip in another direction to a county we've neglected for a while now.
This was a recce to suss where the access points are for the fields we need to survey later this year after harvest.

We arrived at the end of the lane that leads to all the fields we need to survey and within minutes the owner of the nearby stunning property arrived to ask who we were. When I say this property is stunning, I mean stunning.
He very kindly advised us where we could park.

We donned some waterproofs as it was quite wet.
A circuit around field didn't reveal too much about the Roman activity there.
The size of the Roman fort there is breath-taking as is the scenery.
We also looked at the field next to it that holds three Roman marching camps.
Oddly enough, we came across a scatter of fish scales in one of the tractor tracks. I commented that it was either an Osprey or Otter, both species were discounted as it was too far from a water source and Ospreys don't habit this area.
WRONG! We stopped at a strategic position to view the area, and low and behold, TWO Ospreys were sat in a tree by the waters edge!
Other birds encountered were; Red Kite, Buzzard, Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, Whitethroat, Chiff Chaff and Spotted Flycatcher to name a few.

There is much to be done to explore the Roman fort area as well as the marching camps as they all cover a huge area, all under crop at the moment.

Watch this space in August/September this year.

Here we are in July 2024 and still waiting for Spring to happen!
It's been a very cold, windy and wet Spring indeed with not many outings looking for wildlife in the UK which is my other passion.

Anyway, on the detecting front, there's not much activity now that the crops are advancing.
However, we are now looking to the new 2024/2025 season that is now upon us.
One of the things we've decided is that quite a few of our sites are now proving more difficult in the retrieval of artefacts for recording.
So, with that in mind, we have created a list of potential new sites around the UK.

Ironically, we obtained permission in 2020 for a site that is within a 2000-acre estate but because of Covid-19 and the very wet winters/springs we didn't follow it up.
Fast forward to July 2024, and after a quick email to the landowner and a quick reply back we were invited to carry out a survey after harvest this year!
We are so looking forward to this as there is promise of Roman history there as well as Medieval too.

We have also been invited to an archaeological dig at a Roman fort which is happening as I write this.

​Hopefully there will be updates on the dig as well as news on any other permissions we are lucky to obtain.