Wild beasts and Charles II: amateur army digs for history in British parks and gardens

Volunteers wielding trowels in Greenwich are among many exploring sites as community digs boom across the UK

His boots deep in winter mud, Greenwich Park community archaeologist Andrew Mayfield runs through the finds from the latest of the park's volunteer digs. We've found a swallow brooch, loads of clay pipes and coins, the lens of a sextant and, strangely, a Sony mobile that was buried pretty deep," he says.

Mayfield gestures at the volunteers, who range in age from 20s to 70-something, up to their waists in earthen trenches and armed with trowels and brushes.