There is a small minority of people who are not true metal detectorists, they only own a metal detector for one reason, and that is to make money and they can be called 'treasure hunters'.

Unfortunately, in many walks of life, there are always those people who spoil it for others, and 'nighthawks' are the element who spoil it for true detectorists. The article talks about farmers feeling threatened by trespassers who are aggressive.

I am sure that this is true, but speaking from personal experience, I know that there are many land owners and farmers who support the hobby and are extremely interested in the finds that the detectorist makes.

In most cases the farmer is aware of the items found on his land, and the detectorist is proud to show the farmer his finds.

I have been a member of Lincolnshire Search Society for over 20 years. All of our members have good relationships with the land owners and farmers in their areas and the farmers have an open invite to come along to the club meetings.

As a club, we have always enjoyed a good relationship with the local archaeologists who often attend our meetings. The finds liaison officer regularly comes along and records and photographs any relevant and important finds.

Lincolnshire Search Society is one of the longest running metal detecting clubs in Lincolnshire and we have strict rules about membership, one of them being that we do not condone 'nighthawking', and any member found to be illegally detecting is asked to leave the club immediately.

We are sometimes lucky enough to all go out together on a 'club dig' and whenever this happens we pay for the privilege and give all the proceeds to a local charity. All I ask is that anyone who read the article and formed a negative opinion about metal detecting, reconsiders this opinion, as we are, in the main, honest people who love history and those items we find in the ground are virtually always not valuable, just very interesting.

Patricia Cox
By email