Unusual ground conditions

[figgis]

Had a weird morning. Well, weirder than usual.

Had a couple of hours on my Roman field but it turned out not much better than a field walk carrying an electric stick because I barely had any decent signals to dig. Plenty of iron, though. Some signals were bright enough but they finished with an iron burp which said "don't bother" so I didn't. But I began to suspect that they couldn't all be iron and eventually decided to dig one, to check. I upped the recovery speed in case it was iron next to non-ferrous but that didn't make any odds and the target turned out to be an ancient bronze partifact Once out of the ground the signal was pure, with no trace of iron as you'd expect. I subsequently dug a few more of these signals and had more non-ferrous bits.

I was using the basic Ultimate programme which I know well and that most good finds give a low-numbers signal with a faint iron buzz I take for granted, but this was different. The iron buzz was much enhanced and on a normal day you'd definitley walk on by, but today I probably left some decent finds behind

The ground was moist-ish but nothing I've not detected on before with the same settings on the same coil, yet something caused the iron to shout louder than usual. Any ideas?

[Dave The Slave]

Have often wondered if Barometric pressure affects detectors, for the worse or even the good.
As you say, you may need to go back over today`s area and check a few more of your undug signals.
Cheers,
Dave.

[Jamesey1981]

What kind of land is it? Something that might have been treated for slugs?

Metaldehyde slug pellets have been banned last year and been replaced with Ferric Phosphate, I wonder if that might be it.

Last year I detected an organically farmed courgette field (organic farmers have been using ferric phosphate for years) and everything had an iron buzz, I have been wondering if that was the culprit, I have some of these to treat my own slugs from before metaldehyde was banned as they are less dangerous to cats but i haven't got around to testing yet.

[Oxgirl]

I have a few fields like that. Pretty much everything has an iron tinge to it. My current favourite field does it all the time. I need to just hear a lifted tone in the iron grunt and I’ll dig it. A few might be bent nails but most are non ferrous. Strangely silver, aluminium and big lead ring through beautifully though

[figgis]

What kind of land is it? Something that might have been treated for slugs?

Metaldehyde slug pellets have been banned last year and been replaced with Ferric Phosphate, I wonder if that might be it.

Cheers, Jamesey A thought to bear in mind and the field may well have been treated with something. The image below shows that something's been done to the field with the lines appearing every 30m or so apart and nothing else has been done to the field, which is still in stubble.

I have a few fields like that. Pretty much everything has an iron tinge to it. My current favourite field does it all the time. I need to just hear a lifted tone in the iron grunt and I’ll dig it. A few might be bent nails but most are non ferrous. Strangely silver, aluminium and big lead ring through beautifully though

That's the weird thing, Cath - I know and expect the iron grunt I get with virtually all finds but this is just yelling "Iron!"

[figgis]

Forgot the image