OT: 'sharps'

I volunteer with a local woodland conservation group. On one side, the woodland borders the playing fields of the local secondary school, so the local kids are quite familiar with the woods and the various official and unofficial access points.

Occasionally we find the remains of a camp fire, with the ashes full of half burnt beer and lager cans (Stella Artois seems popular!). When tidying up the site, we are always on the lookout for needles, just in case the kids have been doing more than just having a booze-up, and might be leaving syringes and needles lying around.

Recently I came across three or four of what I initially thought were needles. They were about four inches long, seemingly made of thin but fairly stiff wire, definitely not hollow, and coming to a sharp point, but not the angled point of a syringe needle. There was a small circular plastic fitting on the end opposite the point.

I have no idea what they could have been used for. I doubt they would have been rigid enough to penetrate a beer can, or much else for that matter. Can anyone with a better knowledge of today's kids recreational habits enlighten me?

No. I used to do that - lancette tips were quite short, say 1/4 inch, and fitted into a little spring-loaded pricker thing. These are about

If you've got a picture of one, you can see what Google Lens thinks it is.

Sorry, no picture. They were promptly taken into our local chemist for disposal in their sharps bin. No suggestions as to what they were.

You can buy a small ‘sharps’ container from places like health centres. It may be worth getting one for your group.

I have one for acupuncture needles*. I buy the container from the local health centre ( I don’t recall how much) and a local chemist accepts them for disposal.

• I attended an NHS course to learn how to use them on myself.

Fortunately we don't come across them very often, and a small lidded tin does as a temporary container until we get them to a pharmacy for disposal.

But these weren't needles - they weren't hollow, and I was just curious as to what the local yoof were using them for.

Puncturing those little gas cartridges found lying around all over the place?

Although they don't sound very sturdy.

Glue capsules?

Cheers

Dave R

Blowgun dart.

Thomas Prufer

Crikey. Are those legal/lethal?