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| Black-necked grebe - a species whose nest was frequently plundered by one unscrupulous collector (Photo by Andreas Trepte via Wikimedia Commons) |
The strange world of egg-collectors came under the spotlight when senior RSPB investigations officer Mark Thomas gave an illustrated
talk to the 2016 annual meeting of the Lincolnshire Bird Club.
Obsessive by temperament, these individuals inevitably
tend to be repeat offenders, racking up a string of convictions which most
likely lead to fines and occasionally even prison sentences.
Typically,
they are white, aged 25 to 55 and, with a few exceptions, they work in manual
trades such as building or painting and decorating. Some are unemployed and live
on state benefit.
They tend to be bird experts but only within the
narrow range of species' nesting habitats, when they breed and the size and
appearance of their clutches.
There are reckoned to be about 25
currently active hardcore egg-collectors in the UK (many live in the West Midlands). None of them is a woman. Indeed,
no female collector has ever been prosecuted.
Britain's most infamous collector used to be Colin Watson who, on May
24, 2006, died aged 63 from injuries sustained when he fell 39ft from a
larch tree branch on which he had been watching the nesting activity of
sparrowhawks.
A prolific offender, he was once arrested as he was
apparently attempting to saw down an osprey-nesting tree on Speyside with a
chainsaw.
That badge of dishonour has since passed from Watson to a Londoner
who perhaps should not be named given that he is still living and his
convictions are now spent.
His exploits included travelling to the Inner Hebrides
to track down the nests of golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, Manx shearwaters
and other uncommon species.
When Mark, accompanied by a police officer, raided this
individual's flat, the living room was devoid of furniture, with only a record
player in one corner of the room plus a case full of eggs.
On another occasion, eggs were discovered in a secret section
of the frame of his bed.
One of the most notable cases of recent years involved a man who kept no
fewer than 7,715 eggs in polysytrene fish boxes at his home in
Grimsby.
Many were of uncommon UK breeders such as black-necked grebe
and chough, but some were of exotic overseas species, suggesting he had contacts
beyond the UK, possibly in Malta.
Because they are often meticulous in recording their
activities in diaries, notebooks and photographs, collectors are inadvertently
providing the evidence that may eventually lead to their conviction at a
magistrates' court.
Mark prompted chuckles from his audience when he noted that
one culprit had added a memo to himself on one page of a notebook - "must get a
girlfriend".
Once a conviction has been secured, the RSPB invariably seeks
from the magistrates a forfeiture of the eggs. These are usually taken to the
Natural History Museum's premises at Tring in Hetfordshire where they are stored
behind the scenes - not in any prominent position lest they inadvertently
provide the collector with some kind of accolade for his
misdemeanours.
Sometimes it seems the confiscation is a greater penalty to
the culprit than the fine or prison sentence. After all, it may have taken 30
years to build a collection.
"Collectors have a bizarre psyche,"said Mark. "Most times
they respond to detection with verbals - but I have known some to break down in
tears."
During his hour-long presentation at Horncastle's Admiral Rodney
Hotel, Mark also described the RSPB's seemingly endless quest to secure
convictions against those gamekeepers who illegally slaughter - through
shooting, poison or other means - buzzards, goshawks and other
raptors.
Since 1990, some 69 per cent of bird crime convictions have
been gamekeeper-related, with one particular "black hole" (to use the RSPB's own
jargon) being the Peak District - so much so that it has prompted the organisation to
publish a leaflet Peak Malpractice outlining the scale of the
problem.
Often working unsocial hours, including pre-dawn, Mark
(43) and his colleagues have the resourcefulness of tabloid journalists in their
quest both to uncover wrongdoing and to ensure that it does not go unpunished.
They are as tenacious as Jack Russell terriers.
The onset of Twitter and other social media has worked to
their advantage. Not only can it lead to tip-offs but it mobilises a sense of
public outrage about wildlife crime - especially if the culprits are allowed to
get away with their crimes or let off with what amounts to no more than a slap
on the wrist.
Mark showed several covertly-recorded videos, including one of
an unscrupulous gamekeeper baiting a trap with a pigeon in order to coax
goshawks. Another more sickening sequence of footage featured two trapped
buzzards being bludgeoned, then apparently having their throats slit or being
decapitated (or both).
The use of poison - for instance, a concentrate of an
agrichemical used by farmers to protect potato crops from pests such as eelworm
- can be more hazardous than shooting because there is a risk that an
unsuspecting child or pet dog might come into contact with it. "Some of these
chemicals can have knock-out potential," said Mark.
Gamekeepers can prove harder to convict than egg-collectors.
Their wealthy landowning employers may engage hugely expensive defence barristers to fight
their corner.
The RSPB investigator described one unusual case in which
an investigation took an unexpected turn when he and a police officer sought
admission from its owner to a locked barn within which it was thought there might be
poison or other raptor-killing paraphernalia.
Told by the officer to release the padlock, the suspect said:
"If I open this I go to jail."
In response, Mark could not prevent himself from interrupting:
"Seems like a fair deal to me."
To the surprise of the two investigators, the premises proved
not to be a storehouse of hawk-slaughtering equipment but of hundreds of
cannabis plants in various states of growth.
During his talk, the RSPB man also had some anecdotes based on his many court
experiences.
On one cross examination, a barrister asked him why, if
raptors were being persecuted on a particular moor, did they not simply fly
somewhere else.
Mark retorted: "On that basis, why don't pheasants fly to
other sites when they're being shot at? The game-shooting industry wouldn't last
past its first day."
Barrister: "Aren't birds of prey more intelligent than
pheasants?"
Mark: "You tell me - are they?"
The RSPB man made reference to his ex-boss, Mark Avery, the
charity's former conservation director who is now a freelance consultant and
frenetic campaigner against persecution of hen harriers on grouse
moors.
Said Mark: "Now that he is no longer on the staff of the RSPB,
he is freer to speak out."
This begged the question (which no one at the meeting asked):
"Is the RSPB sometimes persuaded to back off certain prosecutions after being
leaned on by those in high places?"
At its Sandy HQ, the RSPB has some 600 staff of whom 14 work
in the investigation unit headed by Rob Elliot.
It may sound like glamorous work, but much of it is also
drudgery. According to Mark, it can also be " frustrating" - for instance
because of delays in the court process or because the
penalties are often pitifully light.
"But our unit is committed to combatting wildlife crime,"he
insisted. "With the help and support of the public, it's a war we can
win."
After seven years' service, RSPB staff are entitled to a
sabbatical month, so long as it is spent on conservation-related
activities.
Mark took his in Mongolia where he recorded species
and also sought to encourage local children to study the indidigenous bird
life, setting up a 'scope for their benefit.
"They weren't the slightest
interested in the birds," he said ruefully. "They only wanted to look at the
horses."
