<p><strong>Now that many fields are cropped finding sites always starts to be a problem. </strong>Fortunately we secured permission for a new search area, an ancient village stuffed with medieval moated sites in the surrounding woodland. We searched several fields and found Georgian coins, thimbles and buckles, but not a hint of anything older. After hours it was quit or do one more field time, so we decided of course to do another field closer to the village. Once again Georgian coinage and buckles, but several bullets and fragments of aeroplane also turned up. At the top end of the field a pair of Peewits clearly had a nest in the area, as the kept dive bombing us ... so we moved away back down to a thick hedge bounding another moated site. The area around the hedge was, as expected, full of shot gun tips, but one signal seemed different. Digging it from the fine soil I saw the glint of gold. Gently cleaning it in the field I thought it could be Saxon. However when I returned home I carefully cleaned it ... and what was it?</p> [split] <p>Research showed that the find was a richly gilded 12th to 13th Century Military / Retainers badge in the Romanesque style. These are rare finds in the UK and I was delighted to finally bag one. Just goes to show, with enthusiastic determination, influenced by a pair of nesting birds and above all armed with a top quality product it finally guaranteed me success. Who owned the badge and why it was lost will probably never be discovered, but thanks to the Safari it is guaranteed preservation and care, and will not lie slowly corroding in a soup of fertilizer and being bashed by the plough year on year ... just one thing of many thousands saved each year ... brilliant! </p>