Let's call a spade a spade: nighthawks are criminals and must be stopped
I think 'nighthawks' can be fairly defined as people who raid protected historical sites, normally with metal detectors, in an illegal search for buried treasure.
Yet whenever anyone tries to do a piece on nighthawks, they inevitably draw attention from legitimate metal detectors - of whom there are undoubtedly thousands - complaining that they are being brought into disrepute.
Well let me say this: I don't have any doubt about the value of responsible detectorists and the positive role they have in uncovering our past.
And we don't just make negative films, we have featured legitimate detectorists on Inside Out South before now and I'm sure we will do so again.
But that doesn't mean we should avoid doing something about nighthawking because, as our film shows, it is a serious problem and it needs to be highlighted so action can be taken.
In every sense it's a despicable crime. Not only is it placing greed and individual gain before the collective benefit of historical research and understanding, it's also an anti-social crime, terrorising landowners in many areas of the countryside.
And who can blame farmers or locals from not wanting to step in and confront these people when they could end up getting a spade around their head in return.
We'd certainly heard more than a few stories of violence accompanying nighthawking.
In fact, we had a plan to call for backup if it was needed and I thought I'd just include a short video clip below showing just how tricky that call can be in a dark when you're trying to avoid being seen.
Firstly, my phone is roughly the size of a breeze block and remarkably it seems able to emit enough bright white light that it could guide small aircraft into land on a foggy night. To say it somewhat draws attention in the middle of a pitch black field full of nighthawks is the mother of all understatements.
Secondly, despite all my research even I wasn't expecting to see as many as five nighthawks all working one site. So as well as texting a security man to confirm he needed to join us, I also had to ring Jonathan from our office and ask him to attend.
He wasn't really expecting a call. In fact, I think his words on leaving the office were something along the lines of "Well, I guess you won't be needing me tonight".
And as you'll see from this clip, as I lie on top of my phone to prevent the light being seen, Jonathan needed a little persuading:
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Hi, I'm Joe Crowley - presenter of the BBC South's current affairs programme, Inside Out - and this is my blog. I'll do my best to bring you all the discussion points, the behind-the-scenes goings on and, of course, my thoughts on the stories we cover. So, have a read and let me know what you think. Or if you think there's a story we've missed, feel free to drop me an e-mail: 
Comments
There are a huge number of legal metal detectorists in societies around the country. Why don't the local historical society get together with the land owner and arrange for the farmer to give warning when the field is going to be ploughed.
The local club members would be thrilled to go out into that field in daylight after ploughing with the local historical society and scan the whole field. That way there will be little left for the illegal guys at night. The illegals won't wander around a field that they learn has already been covered, it would be a waste of their time, and they will go elsewhere.
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This programe tonight has actualy anoyd me !
I as a detectorist take great care when detecting.If it wasnt for us half the finds in britain would never have made the museums!
And in the programe we was described as criminals this is one big JOKE.
we arnt criminaly minded we go out detecting night or day as its our hobby !
If you took the time to talk to a detectorist ud find that then are not just out to find things ... they actualy are more intrested in the history behind this item found.
I would like an apology on inside out as we have been shuved into a corner and branded criminals pathetic
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I am the founder of Surrey Searchers an online and field based club for the metal detecting community , your program tonight was excellent and highlighting the pest of Night hawkers. I personally spend a lot of time researching and planning sites for our club to visit, along with the visits to the owners etc to confirm permission to detect. Night hawkers not only give us genuine metal detecting users a bad name but destroy our links with the local community which we rely on to carry on our interest. Hopefully people will understand that there are many good honest folk who follow the rules and it’s the few who act in such a stupid and careless manor. I personally follow my interest to protect and preserve the past for future generations to learn and understand not to profit. Hopefully other Night hawkers will think twice and maybe just maybe, become true members of the metal detecting community and do it legal, like the rest of us.
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There are bad detectorists– the nighthawks, and there are good detectorists who engage with the archaeology community and diligently report finds so the objects can be properly identified and recorded so the information becomes available for the benefit of society.
But there are also lots of indifferent detectorists – they break no laws and detect with the full consent of the landowner. However for their own reasons they choose not to report their finds with schemes such as the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Their finds therefore do not add to our over all record of the historic environment and the information the objects could have provided is lost. Some objects are sold, others sit on mantle pieces or gather dust in boxes of personal curios.
There is not an inexhaustible harvest of objects in the plough soil, and metal detecting is not a sustainable activity be it good, bad or indifferent. Nighthawking is theft, indifference is not. However both activities equally deny society information on the countries heritage. And in reality there are probably allot more indifferent detectorists than nighthawks walking upon the fields of Britain.
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Having seen the video tonight I was amazed at the passive approach of English Heritage.
Surely a couple of police dogs would soon catch the thieves. After all it is theft of our National Heritage and taking a few indistinct videos will do nothing to stop them.
Why can't English Heritage do a proper job and catch them and help stop this pillaging or is it better to let them to continue to suit our "do nothing in case it hurts " Brigade
terrynn7
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This was an unbalanced view again by the BBC.
Metal detectorists being branded a ‘hardened criminal gang members’ was quite the most amusing thing I’ve heard for a while. These people are no more dangerous than the university educated archaeologists who also sell their ill gotten gains on Ebay behind the cloak of decency. Archaeologists are no more honest than the rest of us. They just have more access to the goodies than we do. Museum exhibits ‘going missing’ is also common place these days as greed takes over in hard times. If you trace much of the artefacts on Ebay back to the mud they were found in, many of these would have been uncovered during ‘official’ digs by universities etc. This is a sad fact I’m afraid.
Greed is greed. It’s an age old problem.
Some of these sites (muddy fields) have been ‘scheduled’ for about 30 years! The hawkers have been there for that long so why on earth haven’t English Heritage done something about it? If they’re ‘covered in gold’ like the programme tonight stated, why don’t they just go out and excavated the site themselves? It makes no sense to me. Farmers are also free to plough as deep as they like, destroying our history with their tractors. Why aren’t English heritage getting up at the crack of dawn to film the vandal farmers? This on special designated sites as well. I find this all very distressing.
And as for metal detecting clubs coming to the rescue of decent people, well, just look at the facts. When a club organises a ‘rally’ on a farmer’s field, the club will charge about £12 per person to detect. A couple of hundred people is not uncommon at a rally. The farmer does pretty well out of the bargain of course.
You do the sums. I bet this is tax free?
And at the nice friendly ‘official’ rally there will be a ‘finds tent’ where a friend of the organiser (coin dealer) will pay top money for nice coins. Will these coins go to museums? No, they’ll go to the highest bidder. Official club rallies only have people travelling for miles around to attend, and that’s to put a nice coin in their pocket to sell.
You work it out.
Nighthawkers? Hmm. You might want to look a bit closer to find the real crooks.
Personally, I wouldn’t trust any of you.
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I've just been watching your report about metal detecting and night hawking which was featured in Inside Out this evening.
Having been a metal detectorist for nearly 40 years I would like to give you an alternative view to those expressed in a majority of the documentaries, including your own, which appear on television and write ups in the press which are completely bias and do not give a true reflection of metal detecting as a historically productive hobby.
First and foremost, most metal detectors do not detect objects at a great depth - with the exception of hoard hunter machines which are owned by very few people who enjoy metal detecting as a hobby.
Secondly, nearly all metal detectorists searching for historical metallic objects, prefer to detect on arable ground which has been cultivated and turned over by the plough as items that were previously buried deep will have been brought closer to the surface by ploughing and cultivation methods.
Modern day ploughing tends to reach depth of up to 18 inches and metal detectors normally work effectively and find items in the first 6 inches of soil - therefore those people that are metal detecting are finding objects in ground that has been turned over and is useless for archaeological purposes as archaeology relies on 'stratification' - which in layman's terms is the undisturbed context where an item is located. Clearly ploughed ground is no good archaeologically for finding items 'in context' or 'stratification' as everything will have been mixed up.
I have worked on a number of archaeological digs and have found that often a mechanical digger is used to scrape away the turf and plough soil which is discarded until the undisturbed ground is exposed whereupon the archaeological dig can commence. It is within the soil that has been discarded by the archaeologists that metal detectorists would normally detect - therefore they are not causing any damage to the archaeology what so ever.
Metal detectorists are actually doing everyone a great service as they are removing metal historically important objects which are at a great danger of being smashed up and destroyed by agricultural machinery and they are finding those objects in soil which has no archaeological relevance at all.
If you take a look at the sheer volume of historically valuable archaeological finds which have been located and reported by metal detectorists, I think that you will find that there are many more metallic discoveries made and reported by metal detectorists than by archaeologists in recent years.
I would ask just one question - How many archaeologists would happily continue to work if the Government/tax payer made a decision not to pay them? Yet metal detectorists do not get paid for their work, and they happily pursue their hobby spending much money on expensive equipment, travelling and a significant amount of time and effort endeavouring to retrieve metallic objects of historical importance that are under constant threat of being destroyed by fertilisers, agricultural equipment and modern farming methods.
If metal detectorists did not provide this unpaid service, much of our heritage would remain lost, unrecorded and destroyed.
On a personal level, I have metal detected on much land over the years and not only have I reported the items that I have found but have placed historically important items into many museum collections. Without my input and the effort that I have expended, much of what I have been able to retrieve would have now been destroyed and lost forever.
Many professional archaeologists are ‘wising up’ to the fact that it is sensible to build working relationships with metal detectorists rather than alienating them - I know that the majority of metal detectorists would happily work alongside archaeologists for the common goal of a greater understanding of our past. Your documentary tonight purely focussed on the negativity of night hawking rather than giving a balanced view.
Many years ago I gave up two months of my time to work 'unpaid' on an archaeological dig just outside Chichester. On my final day I mentioned to the principal archaeologist that I was a metal detctoristist and suggested that I should search the soil heaps with my metal detector that had been previously searched and discarded by the archaeological team. I was given permission to undertake my search in my lunch break and subsequently found a number of Roman coins which I handed in which included a rare silver roman denarius coin which dated from BC and was obviously brought over when the romans arrived in our lands. Not only were these the only roman coins found in that dig up until that point in time but the roman republic denarius was exceptionally rare, historically valuable and indeed commercially valuable. A couple of months later I visited a London coin dealer of repute and met with one of the directors who showed me the same coin that I had found on the aforementioned archaeological dig which had been sold to him by the aforementioned principle archaeologist.
I mention this because this is a clear case of a corrupt archaeologist and in this case an honest metal detectorist - However I would never suggest that all archaeologists are corrupt as clearly this is not the case - Likewise not all metal detectorists are corrupt including those who detect at night time.
The prime time that metal detectorists search for items in the fields is generally when the ground has been cultivated and before the crops grow, and as you must know, the ground tends to be cultivated in the winter and spring months when the days are short and the nights are long. If the average metal detectorist has an average job which necessitates him/her working from 9.00am to 5.00pm five days a week, if that same person wants to go out metal detecting during the week they have to do this outside of work hours - which means that they have no option to detect other than in the dark.
Many people who own dogs arrive home after work and walk the dog, again in the winter months they obviously exercise their dog in the dark – Does this mean that they are out hare coursing or flushing out pheasants with a view to poaching? Of course not, they are normal responsible people in many cases walking across or alongside fields in the hours of darkness. Some people will jump on their bicycle after work and go out for a ride in the hours of darkness – Does this mean that they are acting suspiciously because they are cycling in the hours of darkness? Of course not. Some people will grab their metal detector and go out detecting after work in the hours of darkness – Does this mean that they are all criminals? Of course not!
If I may, I would like to ask you a question: When you were filming and making your documentary about night hawking, lets just say that you dropped your wallet in the farmers field when you were giving chase to the metal detectorists that you were filming. A few days later a person walking his dog through the fields finds your wallet – Would that wallet belong to you? Would that wallet belong to the land owner? Would that wallet belong to the finder? I would suggest that common sense would dictate that the wallet belonged to you and no one else. Taking this one stage further – If a roman dropped his purse of coins in a field and an unconnected person picked up that roman’s purse – Would that purse belong to the roman who dropped it? Would it belong to the land owner? Would that purse belong to the finder? Again I would suggest that common sense would dictate that the purse belongs to the roman who dropped it. Now lets say that you are no longer with us and have past away – common sense would dictate that your wallet now belongs to your next of kin. When a metal detectorist digs up a roman coin that has been lost for nearly 2,000 years – Who is to say who is the rightful owner – Who is the next of kin? In my view the metal detectorist is as likely or unlikely to be the next of kin as any other claimant.
In closing, I do not have any problem with metal detectorists being financially rewarded for the finds that they make – Unlike archaeologists who get paid by the tax payer whether they are successful or not in their endeavours – metal detectorists cost the tax payer nothing and yet the law of this land has created a system whereby should a metal detectorist discover a metallic object of historical importance – that he/she will be financially compensated should that object be reported and retained by the ‘Country’.
Why set up a system which financially rewards metal detectorists for reporting their finds and yet then criticises them them for metal detecting?
Much land which is classified as being a ‘National Monument’ is being ploughed to depths of 18 inches which as we know destroys all archaeological stratification evidence within the top 18 inches. Why stop metal detectorists from retrieving out of context spurious metallic objects from this plough soil? This is really stupid and a case of the ‘Powers that be’ being clueless and making uneducated ill-informed decisions.
I rest my case.
I write this in haste and irritation but would happily give you an alternative view for another documentary.
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Andrew Hennell what you write there is a huge load of dribble and a waste of 15 minutes of anyones life that reads it.
Firstly you start out sounding as if the article is about Metal Detecting being unresponsible. It isn't, it is about Nighthawking, and is made clear by Joe Crowley from the very beginning. So the first 16 of your 20 sentences are completely off topic and irrelevent.
In paragraph 17 you ask (I quote) "lets just say that you dropped your wallet in the farmers field when you were giving chase to the metal detectorists that you were filming. A few days later a person walking his dog through the fields finds your wallet – Would that wallet belong to you? Would that wallet belong to the land owner? Would that wallet belong to the finder? I would suggest that common sense would dictate that the wallet belonged to you and no one else. Taking this one stage further – If a roman dropped his purse of coins in a field and an unconnected person picked up that roman’s purse – Would that purse belong to the roman who dropped it? Would it belong to the land owner? Would that purse belong to the finder? Again I would suggest that common sense would dictate that the purse belongs to the roman who dropped it. Now lets say that you are no longer with us and have past away – common sense would dictate that your wallet now belongs to your next of kin"
-- The law states that a person when finding items lost by the owner must take all reasonable steps to locate the owner before claiming the item as their own. In the case of the wallet this would be ID in the wallet or Police etc, if, if the person who lost it couldnt be located (even by the police after handing in) it is the property of the landowner who may (at his discretion) give some of it to the finder. Common sense states that there are few "reasonable" steps someone could take to return a 2000 year old coin, unless it is obvious someone else has just dropped it accidently on top of the soil! So you're way off the mark. The detectorist has no claim except at the land owners discretion once he legally owns the lost item.
Paragraph 18, Again off topic
Paragraph 19 is again off topic. But nobody criticises them, only critising people who act unlawfully.
Paragraph 20. This is wrong, National Monument can be any land form and regularly is not plough. An example for you even on plough would be cremations. Generally a plough can and often does only take the tops off urns. So despite the damage that has already occured much can be learnt from everything in situ. Until illegal detecting occurs and urns are fully removed, dislodged or relocated and an entire areas history of hundreds of years can be lost thanks to one persons irresponsible, selfish and illegal actions.
I have been detecting many years and fully support the programme tonight. It highlights a very serious issue that will hopefully get the attention it deserves. The programme was constructed in a very good way that did not bring ligitimate detectorists into a bad light, and anyone who feels that is not the case is purely fabricating things in their own minds.
Many if not all archaeological services are begining to see the benefit that us ligitimate detectorists are having and work closely with us. Now thanks to responsible media such as this we can indeed hope that the seriousness of this behaviour can be brought apparent to the Police and CPS as well. As I am certain that a few high profile cases where nighthawks 'feel the law' will soon make the importance of harsher sentencing for those found guilty a well needed and over due reality!
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Unlike Vertis who is clearly believes that the current ‘modus operanti’ is workable which it is not, I believe that Andrew Hennell is on topic, puts up a decent argument and is correct in many of the points that he raises.
There are many ‘scheduled’ sites particularly in East Anglia which have been subjected to deep cultivation methods including mole ploughing which has destroyed the first metre plus of archaeology.
On numerous occasions we have tried in vain to stop farmers from deep ploughing agricultural fields which are scheduled monuments, but sadly many farmers ignore our requests using the fact that they own the land and are in the business of making a profit.
Although far from ideal, any items recovered from the plough soil on this land by a persons metal detecting and reported to us and recorded, can only assist us in our understanding of what may have been, or is buried below.
We have many items handed in to ourselves by people who metal detect and some of those at night time. Many people pursue their hobby in the hours of darkness because they do not want others to see where they are detecting as there is much competition to find the best sites on which to detect.
Items removed from plough soil on a scheduled sites or otherwise and reported to us can do nothing other to assist those of us who spend our lives recording archaeology and trying to gain a greater understanding of the past.
With a general lack of funding and cut backs in spending, we do not have the financial resources to excavate even a small percentage of scheduled sites that are being damaged each year by intensive farming methods.
Let’s find a way to encourage all people who metal detect to hand in their finds for recording, including those who metal detect in the hours of darkness. We are failing dismally with the current system and are at risk of destroying the bridges that have been built with farmers and those who metal detect because we impose restrictions on their activities and yet we are seen to be doing nothing with the archaeology that has been identified.
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Ok i have been metal detecting now for around 10 years and when i say that most fields have very little in the way of good finds i mean it,take it from me most fields have nothing of interest in them.Right for a start single coin finds do not come under the treasure act regardless if they are gold or silver and in the time i have been detecting i have yet to find a gold coin so dont be fooled by by this misleading programme that our fields are covered in gold its just not the case,even the historic monuments that have not yet been excavated my guess is there is even less here for the simple fact that these sites were heavily plundered during the 60's 70's and 80's most metal detectorists already know that these sites are no go areas and you will find its mainly people who are new to the hobby that are more likely to visit these sites.which ever way you look at it this type of propaganda is damaging to the whole of our hobby.if these sites are so important then why havent they been excavated already or at least fenced off even security lighting would do the trick.its a known fact that archaeologists want our hobby banned and they will not stop until it,they dont want us pulling things out of the ground legally or otherwise,they want their cake and to eat it all,personally i think it should be a criminal offence to plunder graves but archaeologists do this all the time just watch time team and its also a known fact that they visit landowners and farmers to try and convince them not to let us on thats how much they like us and as for someone bragging down the pub about a nice find is that the best you can come up with dosent convince me at all,and joe before making a programme like this might be a good idea for you to do a bit of metal detecting and see how much gold you come up with cos if you do find any then your doing much better thanb the majority of us mate.
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I would just like to congratulate you Joe and the team for a well balanced and unbiased report.
I won't write an essay like some, but I am proud to say that my detecting partner and I are passionate about our hobby and do it for completely different reasons the hawkers are in it.
We work hard to get permission to search land in our area, have won respect from the local landowners and community by reporting our finds to the PAS, and exhibiting and raising funds for local Churches etc.
If hawkers are the same us us, why do they sneak about at night?, why not do what legit detecorists do and ask permission on sites that are legally accessable to us?
Because they are thieves, in it for the monetary gain, and the detector is just their tool.
And Joe, what about another report on the good that the 'real' metal detectorists do now.
I am sure it would make a fascinating report, some of the finds Linda and I have made the public love to see. And most of the public do not realise that we are mainly finding the items our ordinary ancestors lost whilst in their everyday persuits.
Anyway I have gone on a bit haven't I? But thanks for a real report and making it clear we have nothing to do with those thieves.
regards,
Sal
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Hi. How do we know the film wasn't staged managed by the archeologist and heritage clique. I have seen lies written on the Archeologists report "Night Hawks" regarding a friend. He just asked them to take the article off. They did. Personally I would haved sued them. They are still trying to ban legitimate detectorists only by the "back door " approach. They have not gone away
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a good report! however its the bad side of topics that always make good news!
theres always bad apples in all walks of life!
as a midlands based detectorist i would love to show the positive and responsible side of metal detecting, reporting finds,working with archeological groups etc.
but thats not good news is it!!!
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A lot of these reports and programs are faked or bits added in to gain viewers interest .i remember a program {take on the take away} where a guy gets on his moped and does a speed test and has to deliver the takeaway to the house to see if a takeaway can be made quicker at home.one episode was done in my town and the guy was going up one road on his moped and coming back up same road going away from the house and messing around taking a lot longer just to get the timing right this was meant to be a genuine speed test and i thought the viewers watching this are being conned.
Did i mention conned lets not forget the television phone in scandal which they are slowly bringing back hoping people might have forgot, maybe the kids with their mobile phones have but i havent.maybe they should look at ther own misadventures first before looking at other peoples.
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well in my eyes nighthawlking aint no where near as bad as what Archeologists do going around digging graves up and burials and thieving the dead mans belongings where he was put to rest ! what would you say if i went and dug up one of your dead family member or friend and took there grave goods ? so how long do thay have to be in the ground for untill its ok to dig them up out of there resting place ? it should be never !!!!!!! and people who go nighthawlking aint just in it for the money because i know people who have been and thay dont even sell there stuff and some do but i could bet you thay wouldent if thay was a millionair !!!! and use metal detectorists who say night hawks give you a bad name why dont you solve the problem and give them some of your permmission because thats what the problem is your got about 500 to 1 chance to gaine permmission for metal detecting and then your still got odds if theres going to be anythink on there !!! most of you metal detectorists with permmisssion are friends with farmers etc or go out metal detecting once or twice a month and your happy with that ....me my self think you should be aload to detect any where in this country you want unless your causing damage to the ground or crop ! it is a free mans land after all !!!!!!
joe crowly i dont know how you say you cant belive how aggress the man in your proggrame got because he dident even at all he was holding his spade out like you would hold your arm out if you couldent see because have you ever had a big lamp shined in your eyes befor joe? because i have and you cant see a thing ! and how did the bloke now you was deffently from the bbc you could of been a farm or game keeper to give him a beatin! and then you set your secruity men on him .....and you say at the end of your show i can see why farmers are scared to confront these people thats why the police have to help out how much did an Archeologists pay you to say that joe ? but i can tell you one thing i bet most people who go night hawking are more scared of the farmers then thay are of them . i know people who have been beaten up ,had knifes pulled on them , had there cars smashed up ,had there detectors robed off them, by farmers, and game keepers .....and even if people dont record there finds it aint destroying our history unless you find a script with everythink wrotten down lol because look how much saxon stuff people have found metal detecting and all the Archeologists can do is guess whats happened etc and and even whats wrote in manuscripts most likly not 100% true !!!! ........i find it funny aswell that anythink thats worth abit of money the goverment want to clame it there's and give you a reward that you might see or you might not ! ...... i think Archeologists are jelous of metal detectorist because thay are finding the better stuff and trust me the Archeologists are going on about night hawks like this to try to make it a big thing then thay will come for use with your permmission ! i know people who have had permmission and because thay was finding good stuff the Archeologists tryed to convince the farmer to stop letting them detector there than !,,,and thay call night hawks greedy ! .............i dont know how thay can call it theft though it drives me up the wall its the persons who lost it not the farmers and thay only say its the farmers to make it look good and call it theft and then why cant the farmer have a say or not if he wants to sell it or keep it then if its his but oh yer it aint if its anythink valuable .....and it aint easy to find stuff at all but you still go out and do it because you love the hobby and thats all it is in most case's ..............i have to say that i dont aggree with night hawks that go on archeological digs though because i do think that is theft because the Archeologists put in the hard work and found it ! so if any night hawks read this go and find your own stuff !! ...............a couple good post above this some really good read's every one has the right to there beliefs and this is my belief on this subjected .....and joe crowley you should try and get an interview with a night hawk and dont get one of these begginers who aint got a clue and will probly stop detecting after a year ! find some one whos been in the game for long time ,,,,,,,,,, im over and out keep up your hobbie detectorist's all kinds day or night and enjoy every minit because you only live once .....
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have to write another message and say great post haleyfender and joe crowley you should do abit more research on your storys next time because most of the people in this dumb world believe everything thay see on t.v or read on the paper !
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Very interesting report, I guess after the Staffs Hoard and the Scottish torque finds the hobby has attracted much positive attention, and then as always someone examines the tiny negative night-hawking minority. Abit old hat but none-theless always ripe for over sensationalism. They are so insignificant they should be given no time or attention. I have been detecting for over three decades have over 150 sites and have never encountered a problem with illicit activity on any of them. Night hawks are a real pain but can hardly be accused of robbing the nations heritage. Since the land owners are negligent of the objects presence on their land (as is the Nation) the aforementioned object would in all chances have never been discovered unless by a metal detectorist whether he or she be an illegal or law-abiding one. If the nation is not aware of the existence of an object then it can hardly be robbed of it...surely or certainly not feel its loss. If anything this alleged "robbing" could be halted by the modification of such antiquated and ignorant attitudes of persons such as English Heritage. They could easily team up with responsible detectorists to search protected sites (I have offered this service for free many times)for several seasons removing the vast majority of coins and artefacts...but choose not to. Preferring to waste vaste amounts of tax payers money on producing highly detailed reports on Night Hawking" to which they have the very authority and opportunity to stop. But its not just night hawking they and other critics are against its the entire hobby of Metal Detecting as a whole no matter how delicately butter in the mouth they present the facts. Im sure any night hawker would not bother with illegally plundering a site that had been well searched for years....pretty obvious that isnt it?...The threat of night-hawking is negligible, as I say Ive been detecting for over 30 years and found the odd nice thing but largely have pockets full of junk....so surely it cant be any different for the night hawks. Sensationalism gives coverage to those who dont deserve it and hurts those who are legitimate...does the maker of this programme really feel it will enhance the ease with which us legitimate detectorists will obtain future sites to search?. I feel that this once proud country has far more pressing urgencies to deal in these modern times with than a bunch of idiots that traipse around at night finding the odd coin. Looks like the legal system thinks this too as two so called night hawks caught, were found not guilty recently...common sense from a Judge who has far more serious issues to deal with. The general public that doesnt have any knowledge of metal detecting and its methods and fantastic contributions to academic knowledge as a rule could easily be swayed by such sensationalism, which is unfair. Thank God such sensationalism wasnt prevalent in 1939 as we would have been discussing the importance of Liquorice Allsorts coloration whilst the Panzer armies massed in Calais....Basically as said the night hawking threat is so negligible as to be pathetic, its only enlarged and given coverage by programmes such as this which of course are readily seized upon as fact by our critics who cannot find anything else to attack us with now their old and tedious arguments, that are accepted even by the academic archaeological community as being tired and incorrect. I suspect that all may not appear as it seemed. For example the fact that these night hawks clotted up into one bunch looked dodgy or was that simply to suit the field of view of the optics being used for filming. One wonders at after so many nights of no-results... just how the convenient "Tip off" that the field would be visited that night was obtained, perhaps it was just dumb old night hawks shopping themselves to a BBC filmcrew for publicity..of course it was ....the attitude of the guy who was caught did seem true to life though, allbeit I would sack the so called security called for as they seemed a tad wimpy here....the aggressive behaviour is of course explained by someone committing an offence and then being caught with a spotlight in their face...a reaction that could be guaranteed for good dramatics when the light source was not dimmed or turned off...same reaction you might get doing same outside any pub on a weekend night. I dont think this was probably stage managed for effect, but hey any old news will do eh? The innaccuracies of the lady from English Heritage made one question her employment status as a warden for example if she thinks night hawks go round with bloody torches this seems a tad unbelievable if they want to sink into the darkness to commit their crimes. Also I would end this blog comment with a note of some humour. whilst they were discussing the soil disturbance evidence left behind by the nighthawkers could the producers please explain to me WHY WE VIEWERS WERE TREATED TO A SHOT SHOWING THE CLEAR TRACKS IN NEAT ROWS OF A FALLOW DEER ACROSS THE NEWLY SEEDED FIELD. Talk about desperate, if they had left so many holes how difficult for the production crew would it have been to find a real night hawk manufactured one. Perhaps some of the production crew were bored with the subject matter had accidentally slipped into wild life film mode, or surely not, it couldnt be that the majestic Fallow Deer itself is being accused of traipsing across the fields at night...coz hey guess what as a wildlife photographer and naturalist let me solve this issue now.....THEY DO!!!! Or perhaps they were indeed holes made by the night hawks and this ancient site was subjected to coin and artefact loss that occurs in precise neat rows...give us a break if you are making a documentary above all be accurate as there are always people out in the real world that spot the errors which just lend credence to desperate over dramatics and the need to sensationalise......Jo if you would like to do a documentary section on responsible metal detecting my group would love to take you out for day......not sensational I know but I could guarantee you a Roman coin or two which you may even enjoy finding....but as I live in a heavily wooded area I could not guarantee the site to be free from Fallow Deer prints which may confuse you.......give us strength.....some very good pro-detecting comments on this blog well done to all those concerned....Cheers Julian Evan-Hart
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julian great post and may i ask one question how the heck did you get permmission for over 150 place's to detect lol you must be one good looking champ that the farmers like the look of lol well done anyways mate in geting that much land to detect ... i myself rang up about 100 farms last month and every one of them said no we dont allow detecting on here and i even said i be willing to pay but still thay said no but only one said it in a nice manner and said no but thanks for asking permmision !
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Night Hawks are not metal detectorists.
They are thieves with a metal detector.
Are all car drivers drunk drivers???
For those who dont know what metal detecting is about and how it adds to the "heritage" please take a look at http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/our-hobbys-detractors.html
Gary Brun
Site administrator for Minelabowners.com and UKDFD.co.uk
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Quite right Gary.
Pretty straight forward really.
1) Metal detecting on someones land without consent is ILLEGAL and is STEALING from the landowner.
2) Metal detecting on a Scheduled Monument without consent is ILLEGAL and is STEALING from the whole country.
There is a great deal of difference between responsible the metal detectorist and a Nighthawk - a responsible metal detector knows and appreciates the true value of what they find. A nighthawk is a selfish thief who appreciates the true value of nothing.
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Thanks for all the responses – glad many of you got a chance to see the programme and comment.
However, I’m not sure everyone got to grips with my initial post so allow me to reiterate a couple of things. This story was never about legitimate metal detectorists, only criminal nighthawks. Sorry if that seems unbalanced in some way, but I’d prefer not to confuse the two. I only ever intended to focus on the criminal problem of nighthawking.
Furthermore, I use the term ‘nighthawk’ to describe the illegal raiding of protected sites using metal detectors. This can happen day or night. Although we caught up with some nighthawks at night, I’m not suggesting it’s impossible for them to operate during the day. Vice versa, not every person with a metal detector in hand after dark is a nighthawk. It’s perfectly possible for responsible metal detectorists with permission from the landowner to go out after work, even if it is in the dark. However, if you’re nighthawking on a scheduled monument in the dark (as we saw) then you are clearly breaking the law.
I am aware that good finds are few and far between for responsible metal detectorists. But sadly, we heard from a few sources that nighthawks were making very valuable discoveries at the scheduled monument we visited. But perhaps that’s not as surprising as some of you may think. After all, these key sites are protected for a reason.
Mr Whippy – I like your comment. It’s certainly interesting to think that when people don’t report finds, even when their search has been completely legitimate, they are still contributing to a loss of information – so thanks for that addition to the debate.
Andrew Hennell, thanks for your detailed comments. I think your argument about the damage done by agricultural cultivation is very interesting and certainly something I’d learnt about while making the film. However, as thought provoking as your comments are, I don’t think there can be any justification for people taking the law into their own hands. Scheduled monuments are protected by law for a reason. Whether you agree with that or not – and I can see that active cultivation of these sites does not always sit easily with this legislation – individuals can’t hand pick which laws they will abide by. Like any area of society there is no excuse for individuals breaking the law when the vast majority of people are responsible and do the right thing.
Finally, Julian makes a point about deer prints – yes, I do know what they look like! In fact, there were deer prints in the field near some of the holes dug by nighthawks. But they were tiny in comparison and barely made much of an imprint because the ground was very firm. Whereas the holes we filmed were particularly large – much bigger than the size of even a big human boot, so unless the south coast deer are worryingly merging with yeti, I think we can rule them out ;-)
Thanks again to all for getting involved.
Best wishes,
Joe
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Yes those holes were interesting. They looked like horse to me, simply because of the size, and of course detectorists don't usually steal the dug-out soil (which was absent) along with all the booty.
DC.
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I felt Joe Crowley's report was totally unbalanced and biased. I particularly note that the BBC broadcast this report twice in a relatively short period of time, the question I would ask is why they felt this was necessary?
Is nighthawking such a crisis in archaeological terms? I think not....didn't it take six months of scrabbling around in muddy ditches for Crowley to get any nighthawkers on film? Not exactly a multitude was it?
I think sensationalism was used on a grand scale here and Crowley milked it for all he could get. He insulted and portrayed respectable and law abiding metal detectorists as common criminals. I sensed the all pervasive hand of the archaeological establishment in this programme and the whiff of classist propaganda.
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What planet do you all live on.. you pick a groupe of people out on a field and class them as robbers, i see nothing wrote regarding our so called archaeologist that are known to pocket finds them self but you never hear of that side of things.. im a nighthawk and have been for 30 odd years and will carry on doing so regardless of this dribble people write, many fields that hold history are destroyed by ploughing and many items are lost due to chemicals and plough damage, in truth archaeologist just dont want anyone detecting for we find what they never do' sour grapes from the so called legal detectorist as they never find much so they jump on the old band waggon and get there two bob's worth in with the rest of the dribble..the more i read this one sided dribble the more i feel im doing right, nighthawking is here to stay now, nothing will change and no one will ever out law it for there are too many loop holes in the system...one thing that is right about this country is you all moan about everything behind your doors, but who really cares' you only live once.. thumbs up to nighthawkers
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