A schoolboy is "over the moon" after discovering an artefact dating back to the Second World War on a beach just miles outside Edinburgh.
Liam Moore, 11, was walking along Tyninghame Beach in East Lothian with his dad on Sunday when he stumbled upon the casing for a bullet thought to have been fired by RAF gunners more than 80 years ago.
While it's nigh impossible to know if the bullet was fired in combat, such finds in the area around the beauty spot are not uncommon.
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East Lothian played a crucial aerial defence role during the war with the region home to two operational RAF air bases at Macmerry and Drem, as well as the training airfield at East Fortune.
Markings on the base of the casing indicate that the bullet was made in 1938 by the Royal Laboratory in Woolwich, south-east London. The laboratory was a department of the Royal Arsenal, which famously lent its name to Arsenal Football Club in the 1880s.
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Fascinated by their find, Liam's dad Brian Moore took to social media group Dunbar Online on Facebook to see if anyone had further information on the wartime artefact.
Brian posted: "My young son found this bullet on Tyninghame Beach today, on top of tidal sands and not dug out.
"I know there's a fair bit of military history linked with WW2, on what is now John Muir Country Park and also with various Trig Points on higher ascents within surrounding terrains but I was wondering if there is any details on enemy attacks over East Coast waters were shots may have been fired."
A number of people have responded to Brian's post, giving further insight into the discovery.
Murray Thomson said: "It’s an old military .303 case. The RL stands for Royal Laboratory (Woolwich) 1888-1954. The mark between the letters is a military 'broad'.
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"The fact it has a pre 1939 four digit date code means you can be fairly confident it’s an RAF round too, but the RAF only kept them in inventory/ storage for two years then handed them to the army. Nice find."
Simon Booth wrote: "The full year of manufacture of 1938 probably means it was part of a batch of RAF specials manufactured to be of higher tolerance used in machine guns where timings was important for firing through propellers."
Kate Crichton commented: "I believe that the old wreckage on Aberlady beach was used for firing practice from planes. I know it's a bit away from there but there were training/firing flights in that area. The old wreckage can still be seen at low tide."
While they are from Glasgow, Brian Moore and his family own a caravan near Dunbar, and regularly go for walks in the area.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Brian said: "We had been walking by the edge of John Muir Country Park and basically spotted what at first looked like a wee branch, but turned out to be a bullet. Liam was absolutely over the moon.
"In that part of the park there are large letters painted on the ground and a couple of outpost buildings which I believe are from the Second World War.
"It's a real bit of history and Liam wants to go back with the metal detector to see if we can find other bits and pieces."
Young Liam Moore also spoke to us and revealed his delight at the special discovery.
He said: "Me and my dad went out on a big walk and we were at this beachy bit to get a photo when I saw this thing poking out the sand that looked like a stick.
"Then my dad said, 'oh my god, that's a bullet!'. When I got back home I washed it and could see the markings on it that read 'RAL 1938'."
The WWII bullet casing isn't the only intriguing artefact young Liam has discovered while out and about. A few years ago, the youngster found a large set of antlers on a camping trip and he hopes to unearth more interesting things in the future.
He explained: "When I'm out places I'm always looking for interesting things and want to get out more to do metal detecting and magnet fishing."
Dad Brian added: "[Liam's] is certainly keeping me on my toes!"
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