Detectorist

Been meaning to do this for a while. The metal detector I got for Christmas 2022 has only really been used to find a lost ring so far (long story, happy ending); but I'd always planned to do a sweep of the pig paddock once they were gone. It's simply been too wet and gloopy to be able to do that, but with the ground semi-frozen, I was able to wander around today.

No joy, but I'll give it a go again in the drier spring if the grass hasn't sprung up too much. It's likely to be old farm stuff (we've come across horseshoes and giant old nails occasionally in the last couple of years), but there were Romans in this area, and an ancient hillfort just a few miles away, so you never know.

Trigger wanrnig for the extra, which is a dead Weasel, lying beside our barn as I went round to the paddock. My working assumption, given it seems completely untouched, but for the bloodied mouth and one broken tooth, is that it's not one of the cats (a fight between a cat and weasel would likely be won by the cat, but both would have nasty injuries); rather it may have been taken by a Kestrel or Owl (both of which we have around here, and which will take the wee Mustelid, given the chance), and in the air the Weasel has been fighting back, possibly biting the captor raptor, and then sadly been dropped from a height.

I'd rather that explanation, as it means it may have been caught a little distance away. Much as I love these little devils, they'll take chickens quite happily...