We arrived at today's site via two other permissions. The first of these had been newly drilled with what appears to be Spring wheat and the other newly drilled over disked ground.
We'll wait for the disked field to be ploughed before we check that one out but we may visit the other asap before the crop gets too high.
This is our 30th survey of the season and we've have had quite a reasonable recovery rate up to date. Details may be published at a later date.
The weather was bright and dry but this came with a biting wind.
The 40-acre field was drilled this week with beans and was extremely flat and dry. In fact, the wind started whipping up a bit of a dust storm which was quite gritty for the eyes.
At switch-on, one of the machines didn't connect to the 13" coil as this was the first time it had been used since the new HF coil was installed and used. This was further confused as the control unit had swapped the coil "names" for the serial numbers since the V4 update. For example, the coil called 13" x 11" was now a serial number instead. After a couple more switch-on's, with all three coils present, the 13" coil was eventually successfully connected. I can understand how some may have thought that their coils were "fried" or at fault after the update.
We'd decided on the 13" x 11" coils to ensure maximum ground coverage using the V4 version of GMP mode with one machine set at 90 and the other set to 84 on the Manual GB setting.
The 84 level allows a little more audio feedback when detecting but this can be set to whatever level you are comfortable with. The performance is not increased at all, this is just a personal preference.
The background to this field is that there is a small early Romano-British settlement here with evidence of earlier habitation dating to the Neolithic Period in the form of flint tools. There's also evidence of the Medieval/Post Medieval Periods too. Of course, modern items are here too such as buttons and the odd coin here and there.
The first recordable item recovered was a Roman bronze coin after an hour of methodical searching. We knew this field was going to be a hard nut to crack as the finds are few and far between.
The next four coins were hammered coins of Edward III and Henry VIII in the form of a cut-half, a penny and two groats respectively.
Two more Roman coins were recovered with a C3rd Roman crossbow type brooch and a bronze decorative Roman bowl rim fragment coming to light.
A large piece of a Roman grey ware rim sherd and a couple of others were found along with a fragment of Bronze Age pottery being recovered too.
Apart from the buttons, lead and coke, some other items such an aluminium WWI commemorative disc, a 1994 pigeon ring, a love token and two modern coins.
XP MI-6 Probe
This was also the second outing for the new XP MI-6 probe and we both agree that it develops with age, like a fine wine. Gone are the concerns of which hand to use as it is feels great once you get used to where the on/off button is situated. With the abundance of settings and customisation, we're sure that it won't be long before the MI-6 fits like a pair of well-worn slippers.
Two outings out now and the battery level is still showing 100% so no worries about the longevity factor.
Natural History
The swallows are back in the barns here, with chiff-chaff, blackcaps and greenfinch singing merrily away. We also came across three vacant lapwing nests. Quite a few buzzards were soaring and mewing to each other. There were plenty of deer prints with one of them running across the field into an adjacent plot. Looking forward to doing a bit of adder hunting soon!
High Definition images can be seen here.
We'll wait for the disked field to be ploughed before we check that one out but we may visit the other asap before the crop gets too high.
This is our 30th survey of the season and we've have had quite a reasonable recovery rate up to date. Details may be published at a later date.
The weather was bright and dry but this came with a biting wind.
The 40-acre field was drilled this week with beans and was extremely flat and dry. In fact, the wind started whipping up a bit of a dust storm which was quite gritty for the eyes.
At switch-on, one of the machines didn't connect to the 13" coil as this was the first time it had been used since the new HF coil was installed and used. This was further confused as the control unit had swapped the coil "names" for the serial numbers since the V4 update. For example, the coil called 13" x 11" was now a serial number instead. After a couple more switch-on's, with all three coils present, the 13" coil was eventually successfully connected. I can understand how some may have thought that their coils were "fried" or at fault after the update.
We'd decided on the 13" x 11" coils to ensure maximum ground coverage using the V4 version of GMP mode with one machine set at 90 and the other set to 84 on the Manual GB setting.
The 84 level allows a little more audio feedback when detecting but this can be set to whatever level you are comfortable with. The performance is not increased at all, this is just a personal preference.
The background to this field is that there is a small early Romano-British settlement here with evidence of earlier habitation dating to the Neolithic Period in the form of flint tools. There's also evidence of the Medieval/Post Medieval Periods too. Of course, modern items are here too such as buttons and the odd coin here and there.
The first recordable item recovered was a Roman bronze coin after an hour of methodical searching. We knew this field was going to be a hard nut to crack as the finds are few and far between.
The next four coins were hammered coins of Edward III and Henry VIII in the form of a cut-half, a penny and two groats respectively.
Two more Roman coins were recovered with a C3rd Roman crossbow type brooch and a bronze decorative Roman bowl rim fragment coming to light.
A large piece of a Roman grey ware rim sherd and a couple of others were found along with a fragment of Bronze Age pottery being recovered too.
Apart from the buttons, lead and coke, some other items such an aluminium WWI commemorative disc, a 1994 pigeon ring, a love token and two modern coins.
XP MI-6 Probe
This was also the second outing for the new XP MI-6 probe and we both agree that it develops with age, like a fine wine. Gone are the concerns of which hand to use as it is feels great once you get used to where the on/off button is situated. With the abundance of settings and customisation, we're sure that it won't be long before the MI-6 fits like a pair of well-worn slippers.
Two outings out now and the battery level is still showing 100% so no worries about the longevity factor.
Natural History
The swallows are back in the barns here, with chiff-chaff, blackcaps and greenfinch singing merrily away. We also came across three vacant lapwing nests. Quite a few buzzards were soaring and mewing to each other. There were plenty of deer prints with one of them running across the field into an adjacent plot. Looking forward to doing a bit of adder hunting soon!
High Definition images can be seen here.
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