TREASURE hunters are winning the battle against plundering thieves as figures revealed more finds dug up in Oxfordshire have been declared to the authorities in 2015 than ever before.

A Viking hoard of ingots and jewellery, gold rings, and Roman coins are among the 41 treasures in 2015 – a 46 per cent increase on the 36 found in 2014.

And the reason for the rise, say authorities, is an increase in honest metal detectorists who are beating “night hawkers” – thieving treasure hunters – to all the best finds.

Detectorist Paul Jones, who recently dug up a 300-year-old Bronze Age axehead in South Oxfordshire, said more finds being declared was great for the hobby and good for historians.

The father-of-two, who took up treasure hunting three years ago, estimated the number of detectorists has doubled in the past five years.

Mr Jones, 57, who runs a cabinet-making and joinery business, said night hawkers were the scourge of his proud past time.

He said: “There’s so much trespassing with people detecting where they shouldn’t be. They are a scourge but there is money in it.

“Night hawkers are only in it to find silver and gold coins to sell them.”

He refused to reveal the location of the field where he found his axehead for fear the farm owner would have to deal with more threatening and dangerous thieves.

He said: “He’s seen them out in the field in broad daylight but what can he do?

“He’s called the police before. You go over to these guys and they’ve got a great big spade in their hand, they’re usually bolshy and you’re trying to get them off your land.”

The trade in stolen treasure is fed by private collectors who advertise for treasure “no questions asked” in the back of metal detecting magazines and scour eBay for finds.

Mr Jones, who lives with his wife in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell near Wallingford, said he knew of a couple of night hawkers but refused to speak to them.

He said: “A friend of mine was walking on Wittenham Clumps near Didcot recently and he said the hillside was full of holes where people had been digging.”

But, he said, with the number of detectorists rapidly increasing, it could only be good news for the honest side of a healthy hobby which also helps paint a picture of English history over the past 3,000 years.

Metal detectors can cost anything from £30 up to several hundred.

Some detectorists go out solo and others join societies like the Oxford Blues Metal Detecting Club, which discusses finds and outings at its website obmdc.co.uk Mr Jones said: “It’s like fishing – you get that beep on the detector and you never know what’s down there. If you find something nice it is just such a buzz. There is an absolutely amazing amount of Medieval and Roman history in this area, I’ve got a room full of thimbles, musket balls and coins at home.”

Anyone can go metal detecting on farmland – so long as they have the landowner’s permission.

The Government’s official definition of treasure in the 1996 Treasure Act is any object that is more than 10 per cent precious metal and more than 3,000 years old.

Mr Jones’s Bronze Age axehead does not contain any precious metal so he will be allowed to keep it, although he said he is hoping to loan it to a local museum to display in due course.