Monday, 12 August 2019

Playing the Victim


David Watson is a metal detectorist, so is unsure how to use question marks, but we can get his gist here
David WatsonI had a field on one of my permissions, we found it because of a long narrow cropmark. We got permission off the farmer and made a few finds mainly Roman coins and Saxon strapends. But they then put it on some kind of special status, I think SSSI but not sure? It was put to wildflower and grass seed for 5 years, and the farmer was told not to let us detect or he would lose his payments? We had also found a small Roman Denarii hoard on a nearby field on the same farm? We had already been kicked off one nearby permission, and it is now a wild bird sanctuary, dug out and flooded. I could be wrong but I think they check where finds are coming from then put in special measures to stop detecting [emoticon] Even though we report everything stick to the rules and regulations, offer our help on excavations, they just do not like detectorists [emoticon](
Being asked not to enter the site that is now a wild bird sanctuary, might that be to protect the wild birds, one wonders? That's not forgetting that the land use and probably user changed from arable to a quarry.

So Mr Watson feels that he and his mates are being discriminated against by an elite "they" who see them as an Other that needs persecuting. Not a bit of paranoia, entitlement and self-centredness there. Perhaps somebody needs to explain to people like Mr Watson what conservation of the natural and historical environment consists of. Perhaps we could set up a body that could liaise with such folk, do some proper outreach, and get such people to understand what best practice and responsible use of the countryside and its resources consists of. Oh, wait a minute....



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