The Mudlarking couple who search for hidden treasures

Mudlarkers Craig and Nicole are now a husband and wife team

From their first moments together, sea glass has been a part of Craig and Nicole Lind's lives.

On their first date, Nicole found a piece on a beach and picked it up to serve as a reminder.

Mudlarking - the search for hidden treasures in sand, stones, mud, and riverbanks - then became a shared hobby for the couple.

Craig and Nicole got married and now run a business in Fife, turning their finds into jewellery and selling them online.

Mudlarking originally began in Victorian times, where people would scavenge for discarded items to sell.

Nowadays, mudlarkers look for historical artefacts and treasures to upcycle.

Craig and Nicole Lind found sea glass on their first date and it is now the basis of their business

Nicole told BBC Scotland's The Nine that the couple had gone to the beach in Portobello, near Edinburgh, on their first date.

"I thought, I'll pick up some things as a reminder of the time, so I picked up some bits of sea glass and put them by my bed.

"I was always reminded of the nice walk that we had together. Then we got married."

Sea glass is created when bottles and other glass items spend a long time in salt water. Time and exposure to other objects wears down the surface, creating unique, frosted, and smooth shards.

The colour and thickness can tell someone how long the glass it has been in the water and when it may have been made.

This haul of sea glass was found by one person at Aberdeen beach in about an hour

Nicole was inspired to start collecting. At first she just kept pieces in a jar, then six years ago she started turning the finds into jewellery.

Now it is a full-time job for the couple, who sell the creations through their own business, Scottish Mudlarking.

Searching mud for a discarded jewel or piece of sea glass requires a good eye and patience.

You also need to master the "stoop" - the pose where the searcher bends over the ground and scans the debris for anything of worth.

BBC Scotland's India Grant tried her hand at looking for hidden gems

Nicole's trick is to look for things which are smoothed, and she finds some of the marbles which were used as stoppers in carbonated drinks bottles.

Anything that shimmers or is a bright colour, like a deep blue or a bottle green, jumps out for Craig.

That meant his first year was full of discoveries, including red sea glass which Nicole says is "incredibly rare".

However, it's not just about the jewellery for the couple.

"I was a lecturer in social anthropology," says Craig.

"I have a strong interest in Scots history, in material culture, so I thought Nicole and I could join our interests together and I could do the research into the things we found, the places we went and the people who used to live there."

The couple also have a YouTube channel where they explain their finds and explain how to turn them into jewellery.