Wild Weekend, Worrying Thoughts

David Knell ("Wild Weekend", Ancient Heritage Monday, 10 March 2014) wonders if he is in some way different from everyone else:

I love the British countryside - both the natural environment itself and the omnipresent feeling of being surrounded by the remains of human history [...] but at no point did I sense an overwhelming urge to buy a metal detector and share the compunction apparently felt by some of my fellow citizens to start wantonly digging bits of it up. Curiously, I respect the evidence of our past so much that I feel it should be investigated properly and carefully in an organised manner under the sensitive supervision of trained and knowledgeable people.

Sixty two million people in the UK do not own metal detectors, its a destructive minority of 10 to 16000 whose "interest in the past" is expressed in this way. They are a small minority and are costing Britain dear.