Poached Page #7

I need, I've got no interest

in eggs, except for my past.

I just thought it would be sacrilege if

these eggs just got thrown out and smashed.

All these birds had

died for nothing.

I don't want to be committing

any wildlife crimes.

As far as I am concerned,

I've just took something

from a bloke that was dying, and he

just, you know, were moving things on.

Obviously, I'm a bit secretive about this at

the moment 'cause of the legal things in it.

So it's a bit of a hush-hush

thing at the moment.

It's, um, you know, as

far as I'm concerned,

it's just myself who knows

about this at the moment.

I'd say this egg collection

is quite important.

You know, I think

it's, um, you know,

it's touching on four figures,

maybe a bit more, you know.

It could be touching a thousand eggs.

It might be a few more.

I'd rather not

say at the moment.

It's just, um...

I've got a feeling I'm going

to end up losing this

when you put this out

and stuff like that.

I think I'm just going to

end up losing all this.

I think this... I think it

might have been a bad thing,

me starting this here, you know, with

these eggs because I don't know.

I just think the

RSPB will end up

a blackmailing me type thing.

"Oh, well, you hand over your

eggs and that, and, you know,

we might help you with

a license and that."

You know, they just...

I don't know.

They'll just be

after a conviction.

That's why I'm not

going to tell them.

So with the egg collection, I'm hoping to,

like, photograph it, process it, be able to,

like, mention about it,

keep it.

And now, you know,

I think that was

a rash decision at the time.

Now, looking back on it, because

I've had sleepless

nights over it.

You know, and then I'm

frightened about

getting caught

with it in the future.

And then I'm frightened about

what it's going to jeopardize me.

And then all of a sudden,

everything I've built up

and the steps that I'm moving

forward and stuff, all that,

you know, I might have burned all them

bridges and stuff, you know, and that.

So really, in a way,

I don't want all this

over me and making me ill again.

It's making me ill.

My son doesn't even know

about these eggs and that.

I mean, when we went to Dunrobin

Castle, the museum there...

It really taught me...

How much

it meant to my son about,

you know, when we was explaining to him

about what people did with eggs and blowing

the contents out of the eggs

and all these dead birds.

And I'm thinking, "I've got

loads of them there," you know.

And I said, I don't want you to upset my

son, so I don't even want my son to know

about these and see them

and stuff.

And even though he's only

six years of age now,

you know, it's a strong impact that

a six-year-old can have on you.

I know my son would be devastated

taking eggs out of nests.

Or if he'd ever see me take an egg and show

him what they did, he'd be devastated.

This egg collection is really,

really getting me down,

you know

having it in my possession.

So I think something

needs to do with it.

And I'd like to open up to the

RSPB, tell them about me issues.

But I don't want to be prosecuted

over this egg collection.

I don't want it if it's going to bring

me down and lower me this much.

You know, I'm not an egg collector.

I don't collect eggs and stuff.

Eight, 12, 16, 20, 24, 25, 26.

As far as I'm concerned, the law it states that

it wasn't illegal to collect eggs up to 1954.

So as far as I'm concerned, any eggs that

were taken before 1954 are legal to have

if the data card is with it,

and it can be proved.

Before anybody

actually sees these,

I want to have the time to

be able to sort them out,

see which eggs have

got the data cards,

put all the ones

together, and say, "Right.

They're the one's that's

got all the data cards,

and these are the data cards

that correspond to it.

These are eggs

taken before 1954."

Then say to the RSPB, "Look, this is

what's happened. Can I keep them?"

And if there is anything that's not

there, you say to them, "Listen.

Please take them away." You know what

I mean? I don't want to be getting

in trouble for something

that I've not done.

Going to Burford,

so now it's a chance to

go in and have a proper talk

to these people.

I'm not exactly going to say that

I've actually got it at the moment.

Or obviously, I've committed

myself now by saying all this.

I've opened the can of worms, and,

you know, I need to deal with it.

This has took me down, and it's made me

think that I end up going to prison over it,

being away from my little lad for

three or four months in prison

and having to explain to him, you

know, letting him down and that.

And I don't think

I could handle it,

you know, because I think

then I'd look on it.

And I'd think, I'd got so

far, and just because

this egg collection had come

in and I took a wrong path

and whatever and that.

And I got caught with

this egg collection.

I'm 44 now, so it would

be another five years

before I could apply for a Schedule

One license. I'd be nearly 50.

It's pointless me even trying it This

is my last chance and stuff like that,

and I don't want this egg

collection pulling me down.

I don't know. I just really don't know

how to go about this at the moment.

[both] And bang.

That's good.

- Got it.

- That's it, mate.

Okay.

Let's have a look,

see what we've got.

I think there's four

chicks, by the look of it.

Yeah, so four chicks, it is.

Hold his leg out.

Pop his leg in there.

Close the ring.

That's it, simple as anything.

[Mark] At 20 odd years ago, after

the court case and everything,

I gave up egg collecting.

I hate egg collectors now

and what they stand for,

but my passion is, um, nest recording

and nest finding for the BTO.

I'll have a couple of hours

out every day to ring birds.

[David] The British Trust for

Ornithology is a charity,

so basically the ethos of it is to

collect information for conservation.

There are a lot of different

bits of information

you need when you're looking

to conserve a species.

Obviously, knowing whether the numbers are

increasing or decreasing is very important.

You can look at that

with bird ringing,

and that's really where nest recording

and the BTO's Nest Record Scheme fits in.

It's a survey designed to

monitor changes in the number

of offspring being produced across a huge

range of species in the UK each year.

I think that the subject of approaching

nests is a controversial one.

The folk who have been

able to find nests

have been slightly worried about how

that behavior will be perceived.

[Mark] I think a lot of egg

collectors would say the same thing.

It's not the eggs.

It's the pursuit.

I'm still getting the same buzz,

but without doing any damage.

And...there you go.

People are gonna see it

as, "Oh, well, you know,

he was an egg collector."

Sh*t, I mean, most

nest recorders, you know

and I see a lot of them, were

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