EOD Going "Out on a Limb" For A Munition

Studland, United Kingdom You've heard the expression, "Money doesn't grow on trees," but in the UXO world we also know that "Munitions don't grow on trees, either!" Police, Coastguard officials, and British Army EOD personnel were called to Studland after a father and son discovered an old military ordnance item in a tree.

The heavily corroded munition, judged to be approximately 70-years-old, was wedged among the branches of a silver birch tree. The Coastguard evacuated the area and called on Army bomb disposal experts for advice. The Wiltshire-based EOD team suspected the device could still be explosive. Upon x-raying it was found to be solid inside rather than liquid and deemed safe for removal.

Once down from the tree, EOD identified the item as an armor piercing solid shot. Officials have no idea how the item arrived in the tree, but they are certain that tree could not have been there 70 years ago for it to land in. They are also certain that whoever picked it up to place it in the tree must not have realized it was a munition.