What acreage do you have?

[Fisher 1266 X]

Perhaps a controversial question, even more so, producing controvesional answers?

Anyway, we currently have access to quite a few permissions.
Unfortunately, some of these permissions are now not worth the travel we have to endure.

With this in mind, we're looking into new permissions.
We're looking forward to visiting one of these tomorrow.
I haven't a clue how much land the farmer owns but I'll ask him tomorrow, with a map of course.
This, along with two more new permissions are all Estate holders.

Looking forward to finding out if tomorrow's site is worth the travel

[TheFenTiger]

Can you elaborate on that a bit please? I have only been detecting 18 months, and lost a few of those to the lockdown, but so far I have not seen any of my fields improve over time. I should add most of my ground consists of small paddocks/pasture...

Is it a case that over many visits you deliberately remove the iron that may be hiding the better stuff? Or are you talking about the plough bringing stuff up?

Thanks in advance,

Peter

I am only speaking from arable as I don't have much pasture on my permissions. It takes a long time to really cover a 200 acre permission. For instance, if it takes an hour to do an acre, then that will take 200 hours, 4 hours a sessions, a lot of sessions. If you go in to a field of 20 acres, you will only cover a small percentage of that field in 1 session and the temptation is if it is not giving finds to move on to the next one when you really need to give it a good few sessions to make sure that it is really empty.

I have been on fields and not found much but when I have been forced to go on to those fields because my others are in crop, then I have been surprised what they have given up.

[alloverover]

I have been on fields and not found much but when I have been forced to go on to those fields because my others are in crop, then I have been surprised what they have given up.

Exactly that

[Pete E]

I am only speaking from arable as I don't have much pasture on my permissions. It takes a long time to really cover a 200 acre permission. For instance, if it takes an hour to do an acre, then that will take 200 hours, 4 hours a sessions, a lot of sessions. If you go in to a field of 20 acres, you will only cover a small percentage of that field in 1 session and the temptation is if it is not giving finds to move on to the next one when you really need to give it a good few sessions to make sure that it is really empty.

I have been on fields and not found much but when I have been forced to go on to those fields because my others are in crop, then I have been surprised what they have given up.

Thanks for that...I recall reading somewhere about a person with a long term permission having it for many, many years before eventually starting to find Viking artifacts..

In that case, I suppose it could be argued that improvements in detector technology might be the cause, but it fascinates me when this happens over a shorter time span, such as like Oxgirl mentions...

[alloverover]

Thanks for that...I recall reading somewhere about a person with a long term permission having it for many, many years before eventually starting to find Viking artifacts..

In that case, I suppose it could be argued that improvements in detector technology might be the cause, but it fascinates me when this happens over a shorter time span, such as like Oxgirl mentions...

Its not normally untill you find something that you really concentrate on an area Pete, ive had it many times, easiest one to explain is an area where I always access the rest of a farm, I detected across it for years to get to where I was going withought finding much there, and then had a Celtic coin so I started to concentrate on that area, ive had quite a few from there now, as well as a lot of artifacts, but its only because of that initial find that I slowed down and thoroughy searched the area, its not to do with detector technology, its about concentration and thoroughness

[Carling 2]

I totally agree with the above posts,, we all zip over land till we find something worth slowing down for, and when we do the more interesting finds come to light, take ya time it's easy to coin shoot when finds are scarce. When I 1st started tectin 1 of the fields was a 40 acre arable (1st and only time its been ploughed up as far as I know and hasn't since and that's almost a decade ago) anyways I walked around the edge of that field 3 times and found nowt, in the forth time I found a Edward hammered,, that field went on to produce 65 hammereds over the nest couple of years including 1 gold sov and several milled silver

[Dave The Slave]

Just had my permission through for this season, approx 28 acres, plus woodland.
Sufficient for my needs.

[Steve RC]

There is land and productive land so a lot of acres does not equal lots of finds. Some of my permissions have large fenland fields with few finds and lots of arm ache whilst others with only a few fields near to a village have lots of signals. However even that does not mean good recordable finds due to the amounts of metallic waste from the last few years of the application of contaminated green waste.

Hence my total access acreage may be in the thousands nearly all that is empty fenland and the better fields near the village are now down to direct drilling year on year so they are now just as empty. If only the estate would grow spuds again.

[coal digger]

My main permission is 1500 acres,but with direct drilling and turn around time from harvest to drill is a couple of days so limited finds. I bagged a new permission which I don't have a clue what size it is till I've spoke to the land owner and only a 2 month window,Feb and march.

[jcmaloney]

Worth a thought............
1 acre = 6, 273,500 sq inches.
9 in round coil = 64 square inches.
1 coil sweep = 36 lateral inches.
36 x 64 = 2304 sq inches per sweep.
1 acre = 2723 sweeps per acre.
1 sweep = 6 seconds.
272 minutes per acre.
4.5 hours to cover an acre.


I try not to talk about acreage as folk get very chirpy about it, but across the Country I have contacts and permissions for around 80-100k.
Leics, Rutland, Lincs, Notts, Essex, Devon, Dorset, Cumbria,Shropshire & Staffordshire at the last look in my little Blue Book.
A broad mix of everything from proper ploughed through minimum tillage to rotational grass and pasture.
None of which is sole permission, just friendly arrangements tailored to the landowners wishes.
Some goes (houses & HS2 mostly) and others appear it`s very fluid.

[BuriedByTime&Dust]

My main permission is 1500 acres,but with direct drilling and turn around time from harvest to drill is a couple of days so limited finds. I bagged a new permission which I don't have a clue what size it is till I've spoke to the land owner and only a 2 month window,Feb and march.

That's the same problem I have.

Technically, I have access to two farms, totalling around 600 acres, but the bulk of it is cereal crop so a lot of land becomes available at the same time. Then it's a scramble to get as much detecting in as I can before drilling commences and I lose access to most of it. My detecting window is more like two months than two days though, thankfully. A cover crop goes in first and the landowner doesn't mind me detecting over that.

Sometimes (like last year) wet weather keeps the clay fields undrilled, but they then become a slimy swamp.

I thought drilling would have started on what has turned out to be a very good roman field, but it hasn't. With all this rain, I'd better pay another visit to that one this weekend

[figgis]

Clearly, the productivity of the permission(s) dictates the any need to gain more. I'm extraordinarily fortunate in that my relatively small amount of land is disproportionately productive so no need to look for more, and furthermore, two of the farms have no issue with my detecting until the crop trips me up so my arable season is extended and no need to look for pasture to tide me over.

[Steve RC]

It is the gaining more that is the problem. In the last three years of the task i have gained two parcels of land adding up to 80 acres most of which is also direct drilled and now is very thin on finds.

Hard work in my area to find new land because of nighthawks, pay to search rallies , CSS, land bankers and newbie's pesterering the life out of farmers so they just switch off when you mention the word detecting even when i go on their neighbours land and know them. The main reason/ excuse is that if i am seen on the land the newbies will pester them. In part that is true with the owner of one of my long standing permissions getting phone calls , letters, emails, door knocking at all times of the day and weekend, people stopping him whilst drilling and so on pestering for access.

Some when told that there is someone else on the land can be awkward saying that they wont mind them coming on/plenty of land to search and so on even when it is the landowners who says yes or no and has already told them he is happy with the arrangement with me. Now they get a very short and sharp response and no conversation.

Bit off topic, but relevant.

Rant over.

[TheFenTiger]

Clearly, the productivity of the permission(s) dictates the any need to gain more. I'm extraordinarily fortunate in that my relatively small amount of land is disproportionately productive so no need to look for more, and furthermore, two of the farms have no issue with my detecting until the crop trips me up so my arable season is extended and no need to look for pasture to tide me over.

Pretty much the same as me. Although I have been neglecting 1 permission which I have reconnected with only to find he has just bought another 80 acres and the long term plan is to turn it in to pasture.

[Carling 2]

Clearly, the productivity of the permission(s) dictates the any need to gain more

Yep could be just put down to old fashioned greed seem as a lot swear land is never done and a few acres anywhere will last years.