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Britain's most prolific egg collector, reoffends again. (1 Viewer)

Phil Andrews said:
Have fixed that for you Andy.

No one in my regularly birding cohort (mid 40s to mids 50s) advises they indulged in such activities and I anticipate a similar response from younger age groups.
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When I started taking an interest in birding (early 1980s, NW England) a friend of my Dad's 'donated' his old egging collection to me. I was fascinated, but other than a half hearted attempt with blackbird eggs it was not something I felt any appeal for.
One outdoor pursuit we should be grateful TV / video games presumably killed off!
 
mjh73 said:
When I started taking an interest in birding (early 1980s, NW England) a friend of my Dad's 'donated' his old egging collection to me. I was fascinated, but other than a half hearted attempt with blackbird eggs it was not something I felt any appeal for.
One outdoor pursuit we should be grateful TV / video games presumably killed off!
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I think it was gone before the rise of video games: TV sounds a more likely nemesis for this ugly hobby. I know AA has been saying those below fifty would be the change generation but I'm 61 and I didn't know anyone at school who did any egging at all. Even the knuckle-draggers preferred more human-oriented vandalism and brutality.

John
 
mjh73 said:
When I started taking an interest in birding (early 1980s, NW England) a friend of my Dad's 'donated' his old egging collection to me. I was fascinated, but other than a half hearted attempt with blackbird eggs it was not something I felt any appeal for.
One outdoor pursuit we should be grateful TV / video games presumably killed off!
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I assume the folks who got into egging back in the day are now the folks who get directly into birding.
 
PYRTLE said:
Makes a mockery of his previous sentences that he was able to have 7 years egging before being caught. And in terms of monitoring a tagged person, the authorities tasked with that would most probably be directed to concentrate on violent, sex and drug offenders rather than a dude pretending to be a naturalist. And probably serve his time in an open or low category prison at the taxpayers expense.
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I was thinking of tagging in addition to any other sentencing etc. (I do like the idea of jail for the relevant 2-3 months of each year though).

I know it would be against 'his human rights' or whatever, but surely a tag gives off a signal which could result in a file being circulated amongst eg the County Wildlife Crime Police Officer/other relevant parties and nip off any untoward activity in the bud ...
 
We'll wait and see what sentence is dished out to the egger after more costly tests, evaluation and reports are sent to the presiding judge for their perusal and subsequent penalty. I guess at 9 months. I wish there was also a method of suspending his driving licence for the relevant periods.
 
PYRTLE said:
We'll wait and see what sentence is dished out to the egger after more costly tests, evaluation and reports are sent to the presiding judge for their perusal and subsequent penalty. I guess at 9 months. I wish there was also a method of suspending his driving licence for the relevant periods.
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Equipment used in the commission of a crime can be confiscated so he could have his car removed, at least he'd then have to buy another.

John
 
I'd vote for the Tories if Badenoch or whoever would hand this guy (and other miscreants) over to the tender mercies of the Birdfair crowd.
 
Farnboro John said:
I think it was gone before the rise of video games: TV sounds a more likely nemesis for this ugly hobby. I know AA has been saying those below fifty would be the change generation but I'm 61 and I didn't know anyone at school who did any egging at all. Even the knuckle-draggers preferred more human-oriented vandalism and brutality.

John
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I don't recall saying that?

When did your interest in the natural World start?

Mine was there for as long as I remember and being a City boy, 'nesting' as we called it, was the nearest thing we had to being involved with nature and it did depend on who your friends were and none of them, were 'knuckle draggers'. We were all interested in birds and wildlife and nesting was at that time, a fairly accepted aspect, it certainly did not have the stigma attached to it as there is today.
 
Patudo said:
I'd vote for the Tories if Badenoch or whoever would hand this guy (and other miscreants) over to the tender mercies of the Birdfair crowd.
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What do you suggest, wrap him in a stinky old 'Barbour' weigh him down with copies of the Birding World magazine and drop him in the lake at Rutland Water after first being made to read 30 years worth of RSPB magazines?

Some of you lot are so judgmental and have no understanding of history, never heard the saying 'a product of their time'? this bloke does sound like a modern day abberation though.
 
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Andy Adcock said:
No, it's an old, British thing, usually left behind upon puberty, 'egging' or 'nesting' as we used to call it and which many Brits here have admitted to doing in their youth. Many, British posters here, see their 'egging' past as part of their path, to their adult interest in nature, I'm one of them.
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Fascinating to find what others have seen as a normal part of life where others yet can't even comprehend the concept.
Phil Andrews said:
No one in my regularly birding cohort (mid 40s to mids 50s) advises they indulged in such activities and I anticipate a similar response from younger age groups.
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There's three possibilities for that and only one of them is that they never did it though.
Mysticete said:
This is such a weird thing to me...
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Seems we both had the same reaction upon seeing this thread. "What?!?" was my first thought.
 
I was born mid 50s and it was certainly going on amongst our mob in the mid 60s through to the 70s. I recall, quite excitedly at the time, when our biology teacher at Grammar School showed us several drawers in a cabinet, full of wild bird eggs, including several species of bops, divers, plovers, etc that I had marvelled at in the Observers Book of Birds Eggs. Thankfully, sports, music and a groin tingling* around 14 years old distracted me though I continued with the marvel of observing nature.

* Nowadays prompts a visit to the bathroom in the wee hours.
 
Trinovid said:
Fascinating to find what others have seen as a normal part of life where others yet can't even comprehend the concept.

There's three possibilities for that and only one of them is that they never did it though.

Seems we both had the same reaction upon seeing this thread. "What?!?" was my first thought.
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The simple answer is this is a generational thing.
 
PYRTLE said:
I was born mid 50s and it was certainly going on amongst our mob in the mid 60s through to the 70s. I recall, quite excitedly at the time, when our biology teacher at Grammar School showed us several drawers in a cabinet, full of wild bird eggs, including several species of bops, divers, plovers, etc that I had marvelled at in the Observers Book of Birds Eggs. Thankfully, sports, music and a groin tingling* around 14 years old distracted me though I continued with the marvel of observing nature.

* Nowadays prompts a visit to the bathroom in the wee hours.
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Worryingly too much information and crossover with the 'Insanity' thread in RF ...

;-)
 
I'll tell you what though, how has he gathered so many eggs, he can't have got them all himself, 3000 since 2018? Is there some kind of 'ring' of those who act together or swap eggs?

I just worked out that over six, full years and we've only had five, it's an average of almost 38 eggs per day, every day.

The court was told that Lingham's collecting was a mental health issue. It's long been proposed (accepted?) that some, extreme behaviours, including collecting and that includes listing, come under the autism spectrum.
 
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PYRTLE said:
I was born mid 50s and it was certainly going on amongst our mob in the mid 60s through to the 70s. I recall, quite excitedly at the time, when our biology teacher at Grammar School showed us several drawers in a cabinet, full of wild bird eggs, including several species of bops, divers, plovers, etc that I had marvelled at in the Observers Book of Birds Eggs. Thankfully, sports, music and a groin tingling* around 14 years old distracted me though I continued with the marvel of observing nature.

* Nowadays prompts a visit to the bathroom in the wee hours.
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Our natural history museum , Wollaton Hall, has a fantastic collection which has long since been withdrawn from public view.
 
Andy Adcock said:
I'll tell you what though, how has he gathered so many eggs, he can't have got them all himself, 3000 since 2018? Is there some kind of 'ring' of those who act together or swap eggs?

I just worked out that over six, full years and we've only had five, it's an average of almost 38 eggs per day, every day.

The court was told that Lingham's collecting was a mental health issue. It's long been proposed (accepted?) that some, extreme behaviours, including collecting and that includes listing, come under the autism spectrum.
Click to expand...
It may have been proposed but its been assumed for a lot longer that it is simply the sublimation of the hunting instinct of our hunter-gatherer ancestors (and I've heard some propose that the reason women don't generally get into listing as opposed to birding is that their deep psyche doesn't include hunting: they simply aren't adapted for it) so you don't need to suggest its an abnormality to explain it. Of course some people would probably like to think listing is an abnormality.....

Real eggers don't deal in single eggs, they want the scientific record of a clutch: they think they are scientists, not villains. He's probably taking whole clutches and he almost certainly has a ring of like-minded badduns to swap with even if he didn't have additional hidden collection elements that the police didn't find last time. It would be interesting to see the records he must have stashed somewhere about each and every egg, which will include dates they were collected.

John
 

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