This week Katie is joined by Wayne May, the Canadian detectorist behind the hugely popular YouTube channel Treasure Earth, which has amassed over 44,000 subscribers since Wayne relaunched it in 2022. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Wayne has deep roots in Hampshire and Wiltshire, and that connection to English soil has shaped him into one of the most well-travelled detectorists in the community.
In this episode Wayne shares his origin story, from a Radio Shack detector turning up in a neighbour's yard in 1979, to a gold ring find in the 90s that sealed his fate, to rediscovering the hobby with an XP Deus 1 in British Columbia around 2010 and never looking back.
Wayne talks through what it feels like as a Canadian to pull an Edward I hammered coin from a Hampshire field, why the Roman occupation of Britain fascinates him above all other eras, and how his second cousin Margaret Hawks was part of the original Time Team. He also opens up about detecting logistics across borders, travelling with the Deus 2 through Philippine airport security, building 3D printed cases for his kit, and the very different challenges of detecting in bear country.
They also cover the realities of a six month detecting season in Calgary, the freedom Canadians enjoy on public land compared to the UK permissions system, the playground cleanup initiative that spread to 3,000 sites across Canada, and Wayne's use of AI to imagine the stories behind the finds he digs up.
Plus, Wayne reveals his plans to return to England in August, a Portugal trip in the pipeline, and the channels he rates most in the detecting community right now.
A genuinely warm conversation between two detectorists who might just end up in the same Hampshire field before the year is out.
Find Wayne at https://www.youtube.com/@treasurearth and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/treasurearth.earth/ and TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@treasure.earth
Watch the full interview version of this episode from 6:30pm on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@detectinghistorychannel
Find Detecting History on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube at @detectinghistorychannel
Use code DHPodcast at regton.com for 10% off your metal detecting order.
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