Poached Page #4

If they take eggs

out of the wild

and leave it with

all the contents in,

sooner or later, they

start deteriorating inside.

We all know what

a rotten egg is.

So what they used to do

was, um, hollow eggs out.

If the egg sinks,

that means it's fresh.

That's the time when

egg collectors really

want it because the

content will just flow out.

But if the egg is floating,

and it's bobbing like that,

it usually means it's quite far

on in the incubation period.

And there could be a chick

forming inside the egg.

Being honest, if that's only

just taken out of the nest,

that chick is still

alive inside that egg.

And they're putting solvents

in to dissolve the body.

And then they'll keep poking and prodding

it and putting more dissolvents in.

And then they might leave it for a

week, so it's rotten and emptying it.

And then they'll start shaking

it and pulling bits out.

It's like an abortion, really.

Um, would you fancy blowing this

in the professional-type way

and show them how

they do it, yeah?

Some eggs are quite... They're tougher

than what you think. You don't realize it.

These are the type of tools

that you can buy from DIY shops.

They have specialized

tools for doing this.

Just put the hole

in the back of egg.

And they're quite anal about

what they do because they want

everything to look perfection,

even though they

can't show these things off.

You've got the straw here, and he's

blowing air into the one hole,

which is forcing

the contents back--

- That's it.

- Broke it.

We'll have to do that again.

That's through.

Now, he's blaming the tools,

and they always say that,

you know, a rubbish workman

always blames his tools.

So what we'll do... I'll do this one just to

show you that I can still do it, you know.

So the content's out now, and all they want

at the end of the day is the empty shell.

They'll wrap the eggs

up, put them in the box.

They'll have all

the eggs in the box.

They'll seal the lid up.

They'll hide that somewhere.

And then if they're

leaving that vicinity,

they're driving along, the

authorities could stop them.

The authorities

check the vehicle.

There's no evidence to

prove where they've been.

So they've got one up on the authorities,

and it's like a game of cat and mouse.

They might have eggs up

and down the country.

And then they'll go back

outside the breeding season,

and they might take a

girlfriend or something up,

or the children on

an holiday up there.

And what they're actually

doing is going off

and they're picking

all these containers up

when the authorities aren't

looking for them,

so they can put it in their collection,

put it in a drawer like that,

close the drawer, and

nobody else sees them.

And they just go

up, drool about it.

Each egg has got a memory of where they've been

and where they've gone and what they took.

[music ends]

We've got a window,

let's go for it.

Let's go for it.

We might only get an hour

but let's get that hour

Yeah. Let's do it.

[laughing]

[Little Bird playing]

I'm making an

egg sandwich here,

but I've made an

omelet before,

about a three-egg omelet,

out of avocet eggs,

which was quite...

The eggs were quite delicious.

Being free range and all that.

[chuckles]

I don't know what lapwing eggs are like,

but I'm sure they're nice eggs to eat.

This is, uh, Elmley

Nature Reserve.

It's part of an RSPB reserve,

which means I'm not allowed.

But, I mean, who would know if

I ever even walked in there?

I've taken quite a few good

clutches of eggs out of here.

I know that.

I've taken little owl,

barn owl, marsh harrier,

avocet, redshank, lapwing, turtle

dove, popchard duck, mallard.

Shelduck, I've never found.

They're quite... They build

long borrows in the earth.

Nothing in there.

[sighs]

People here are watching.

Once, over here on the

fleet we passed down there,

a bloke tried to drive

into me with a Land Rover.

I've even had a farmer let

off his shotgun towards me.

I don't like any harm

coming to any wildlife.

I mean, all right, taking

eggs might seem a bit cruel

to some people, but it's

not killing birds, is it?

I have found quite a few

eggs over here in the past.

Let's put a bit of

shade up for ya.

There you go.

Needs cleaning up, this

turntable, and resetting up.

[meditation music playing]

[chirps]

[music ends]

Egg collecting has a very,

very clear seasonality.

So, obviously, birds have

different breeding cycles,

and the egg collector's

calendar is based on all this.

[Alan] The police officers in

the different parts of the UK

will be aware of where

the rare birds nest.

They'll be aware of when

they nest, and, of course,

that's the potential for

catching egg collectors.

[Sinnerman playing]

Been collecting

since I was a kid.

Never been caught.

It just goes on

and on and on.

When I was a kid,

we used to fill bags up.

Years ago

I was just nonstop,

Every single day,

all day, every day.

As soon as I opened

me eyes, I'd be out

Until it went dark.

Now, my favorite

eggs to collect

Schedule one.

Proper rare stuff

that you cannot find.

That's what we go for.

There's a car approaching from here.

I'm just checking out other cars

He might be in them.

Even such a protected

site like this,

it's surprising how much

egg collecting goes on

on with the cameras

being covered up,

eggs just going missing

for no sort of real reason.

If any egg collector was to come

here and try and rob this nest,

they would

have to come in the day

to work out whereabouts in

the reed bed the nest is.

This is a big reed bed.

The birds are quite distant.

They'd have to stand

here for quite a while,

working out where the

birds are dropping in.

And we would see

them doing that.

All the authorities don't

know nothing about me.

Never been hassled at all

over egg collecting.

I can't show

my eggs to nobody.

Nobody can know

where they are.

In case you fall out

with them.

Girlfriend can't know.

You fall out with her

all your lifetime's

collection, gone.

If you're into egg

collecting proper

you find the nest early,

ready for laying.

Get it, bang on, when it's

just laying its last egg.

There's certain birds that

won't lay again.

Golden Eagles, Osprey.

I am doing it for

the buzz really.

[laughter]

How egg thief proof

do you think this is?

They have to get

past our volunteers.

They have to get past the

barbed wire, the fence.

There's a bog out there that

they have to traipse through.

All right, now, you

see here, the amount

of resources needed to guard

one nest 24 hours is incredible.

They're fine. They fit the mold

as dog walkers with binoculars,

as opposed to egg collectors.

If anyone is thinking of coming

to Norfolk to commit any form

of wildlife crime, I'd say, think twice

because chances are you'll be investigated.

And we will look to a

successful prosecution.

What the RSPB is doing here, it's

combining professional conservationists,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes