Today I found a bomb from WWII !

Today Dad and I had a walk planned up on the moors to explore a new wood that was difficult to get to. I had planned the route last night, but when I got up this morning I could see those hills were covered in low cloud, so we decided to do a different route.

The wood we decided to walk in was Dougal's Cairn, which is a private deer forest which I have collected loads of great bones from. Dad suggested we search the south-east corner because we hadn't been there before, so we headed down the tracks that way.

At the bit where we left the track, there were lots of trees which had been blown over in the storms in December. Under one of the trees I spotted something sticking out of the earth.

It was a metal cylinder with blades at one end. It was sticking in the ground with the end with the blades on sticking out. Dad gently pulled it out to have a look.

It was about 14 inches long and covered in mud and rust.

At the end where the fins were, there was a silver metal screw cap, but this was falling apart because of rust.

We walked on a bit further, and when we stopped for a break, Dad called Tayside Police because he thought it might have been a bomb, and then he sent them some of the pictures he had taken. A policeman phoned him back who said he was going to drive down from Pitlochry to see it. He told us not to let anyone within 200 yards of it, but there is never anyone else in that forest anyway.

About an hour later we met the policeman at the gates of the forest, and we drove up the track to where it was.

The policeman said he used to be in the armed forces. He had a look at it and said it was a type of mortar, which is a bomb that is fired through a tube. He said it probably dated back to world war 2. Then he sent the pictures to the bomb disposal unit in Edinburgh who are coming up to deal with it this afternoon. I wanted to stay until they came, or even keep it, but he said I wouldn't be allowed.

A lot of the land around my village was used to train the army. On the moor, they built an entire dummy beach together with german bunkers to practice the D-Day landings, and a bit further along the Titus Well valley used to be a huge amount of land used by the army to practice up until recently.

 I think we did everything right after we found the mortar. Here's what to do if you find something similar.

• Don't move it more than you have to, but take a few pictures if you can.
• Call the police. Dad didn't use the 999 number but I don't think they will mind if you do. Tell you have pictures if it helps.
• Stay away from it. The policeman said to stay at least 200 yards away from it.

 It was cool to find it but just a shame I couldn't keep it.

UPDATE: This story was in three newspapers. See more here !

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