No it wasn’t a sudden, massive surge in demand for trial lessons but a chatter of metal detectorists parked up and exploring fields to the west. Phil M (duty instructor for the day) estimated there were about 50 of them. After getting those who were parked near the tumulus to move flying flying commenced. A respectable 31 launches happened but only 4 managed to achieve double digit flight times with Graham T taking top-dog honours with 14 minutes. Well, it is January and not a mid-week day.
Foot note: “chatter” is metal detectorists jargon for “the sound a detector makes when it’s badly tuned, or sometimes when running with high sensitivity for maximum depth – a sort of static. You’ll often see more advanced detectorists running with a lot of “chatter” to find deeper targets.” Maybe you can suggest a better collective term.