Inland Detecting can vary according to the area of the country you are able to do your detecting in. If you live and detect in arable country, you will only have the harvest period to go detecting in, say from the beginning of August to the end of October. Some farmers will still let detectors onto the newly planted areas until the young crops are 10cm to 15cm high. Most will not. Once they have sown their fields they do not want anyone near the
m, and really you cannot blame them.
Set-aside
has been good for the detecting hobby. It has extended the detecting season in arable areas. However, the government has cut back on the amount of land a farm can set
aside. It has been dropped from 10% to 5%. Some farmers do not have any set-aside now.
Get to know the crops of the farmers in your detecting area. Different crops are harvested at
different times. Most libraries will have books on the farm crop rotation system, and will show the main sowing and reaping periods. Use the following as a rough guide.
Peas, barley, rape seed and early potatoes - can be harvested as early as the third week in July and as late as the second week in August. Oats, wheat, beans and main crop potatoes - can be harvested from the middle of August
to the end of
September. Kale, turnip, swede, maize and late potatoes - can be harvested from the third week in September through to the end of October. Sugar beet - can be harvested from the third
week in October to mid November
All of these harvest times will vary depending on the weather. A dry warm July will ripen crops sooner, and a cool wet July will delay them. If you do your detecting in the South,
look to the earlier cropping dates. In the North, expect the later cropping dates.