Metal Detecting

well with the ground being like concrete and most of the land under crops the 4 of us decided on a day at the seaside with none of us ever doing a beach before it would be a laugh and an adventure
we couldn't decide whether to go to at first so settled on sandbanks as we had been there yrs ago windsurfing and knew where to park
so up at the crack of dawn and its pouring down never mind the weather says it should brighten up
after a 100+ miles we arrive and the car parks empty brilliant .... but £9 for six hrs seems a bit steep but hey ho we will soon find that !!!!!
after all the talk in the car of wearing shorts / t shirts one look out of the car at the beach its overcast and a strong wind blowing down the beach its a case of finding the coats to wear
straight on the beach and its ding ding straight away dig it out silver foil and so that set the scene for the rest of the day never had to walk more than a metre and you had a target to dig
it was good fun but the targets were nearly allways the same bottle tops / silver foil / beer cans / ring pulls with the odd modern coins
after 3hrs it was time for a cuppa and something to eat so off to the cafe to compare our pockets of trash
we were all amazed of how much rubbish gets buried by people on the beach especially the big bits of silver foil that i guess people have there sandwhiches wrapped in then screw it up and bury it same with the beer cans mostly modern and down quite a depth but they still blew your eardrums when buried 2ft deep
finally the sun came out and immediatley there seemed to be a lot of people arriving but it was not crowded so we would carry on detecting as we wouldn't be in anyones way
the only thing people were moaning about was the windsurfers laying their lines out everywhere and telling people to walk around them as they had reserved the beach which we thought was funny as we thought the beach was a public place !!!!!!
time to make our way back towards the car this time walking in to the wind it was weird as we couldn't see our holes that we had dug 3 hrs earlier as the sand was being blown along the beach
we all impressed with the depths some of the stuff was coming from and how easy the digging is on the sand
my euroace really didn't like the wet sand even tried it with the sensitivity turned right down it was chaotic and i gave up
we think we dug 600+ targets between us and ended up with £14 mostly in small change
100+ bottle tops
100+ bits of silver foil
50+ ring pulls
20 odd beer cans and loads of other various bits of rubbish our pockets were bulging by the time we had got in the car we all remarked on how tiring it was working the beach and we all felt like our faces had been grit blasted
it was a great day out and will be repeated

sounds like you all had a great day...... At least you found enough to pay for the parking A great place sandbanks I do alot of work with the crew that operate the small car ferry, what a great job they have B-)

Thank you digger for your account!

I was going to go to Sandbanks this week as it is only up the road from me, but from what you've written it sounds like i best wait for high season as that is a lot of work for a few quid each!

As lovely as our 7 mile stretch of sand is, the council use beach sieving machines to clean them daily, which often doesn't leave a lot left for us MDers to find.... if only tourists were nice enough to throw their rubbish in bins then there would be no need for the machines and a whole lot more profitable to MD..... I can dream!

I am glad you had a good day, and if nothing else think of it as a free full body workout... no gym fees required!

Jade
your so right about the full body workout when i spoke to the lads at work the next day we were all knackered and all complaining about our legs aching and bad backs
yes it was hard work for a few quid just about covered the car park and a cup of tea each but we also spent £40 on fuel to get there but in real terms a cheap day out ...but it was a good 1st day on the beach
it was amazing on how much rubbish is buried on the beach considering there are plenty of rubbish bins and some of it was buried within metres of a bin !!!!!!

when you said the beach is mechanically cleaned that got me thinking who cleans them ?
the council or a sub contractor
if its the council do they sell the gold rings to pay for the cleaning ?
or does the cleaning operative just slip them in his pocket ? ...could this be one of those minium wage jobs with a few perks
i wonder how many rings are found every yr

stood by the dartmouth ferry once on and off 4 a few hours 3 weeks ago and had about 14 quid in different coins B-)

Hi well done yeah wait till end of season sort a speak then go back and have a search.

Of course you are aware that parts of Sandbanks are a SSSI, like wise Shellbeach the other side of the harbour entrance is all SSSI.

SussexBoi wrote:Of course you are aware that parts of Sandbanks are a SSSI, like wise Shellbeach the other side of the harbour entrance is all SSSI.

Only inside the harbour. Sandbanks beach itself is not.

This sounds great, it is the reason I love it. Great finds or not - every ping increases your pulse slightly regardless of what comes out!

your not wrong mate it was a nice day out and we will repeat it probally after the summer season when the beaches are quieter

Jade if you are still on here then i will pm you and you would be more to have a day out with 4 silly sods

Rich
your not wrong about the parking but they have you by the short and curlys and its not worth getting a ticket .. the best you can hope for is to find enough modern coinage to cover the cost of parking and maybe enough for a coffeee and doughnut for good measure
personally i think metal detectorists should get free parking considering all the rubbish that we removed from the beach
untill we went to the beach i never gave it a second thought about all the other beach users and their discusting habit of burying everything and i would dread to think of how much plastic there must be
is brighton beach no good then ?

Im suprised you headed to sandbanks i live almost opposite the beach and have never detected there the mud is very deep its hard work i always head for bournemouth the hard layer isnt as far down and the crowds are far greater and the parkings cheaper but thanks for cleaning it up for us anyway

Aah you've just learnt sand moved by the wind quickly builds up coupled with anything thin and flat like coins and rings dropped soon disappears to surprising depths. It only takes a matter of hours and it's beyond detector range. Best time for beaches is right after a storm with huge crashing waves to churn everything up. For the days losses go down just as the visitors are leaving. When I first started detecting in the 1970's a 1 hour trip detecting our local beach always gave me enough return for a couple of pints of beer!!! They were the days

Im with you on that one grumpyjohn i find it handy if theres apier nearby you can look at the big poles going down into the sand and if you have ahem! Left amark on them tell how much sand has been dragged away in a storm ill always dig a test hole first to see how far down the hard layer is if to deep leave for another day dont understand the gulleys much though but ive heard these can b very productive