Egg collecting, which is illegal, seems to be on a steep downturn. There were only 36 (although that is too many of course) reported incidents of egg collecting and theft in 2008 - much lower than the 2003-7 average of 66 cases. Let's hope this trend continues.
Certainly, the number of convictions is falling (see graph) and we believe that this is because the police are doing a good job through national strategies such as Operation Easter (who said the Police don't have a sense of humour?) but also because custodial sentences are now a possibility. If you steal birds' eggs you can go to jail and this has been true since 2000 in England and Wales and since 2003 in Scotland. And the graph shows that some people are now sent to jail in most years but that numbers of convictions have fallen since custodial sentences came in.
In April 2008, following an investigation by Lincolnshire Police and the RSPB, egg collector Richard Pearson from Cleethorpes received a 23-week jail sentence. At his home 7,130 birds' eggs were seized including those of many rare species.
There must be an interesting social study to be done on egg-collectors. They are almost all blokes - we assume women are far too sensible to get hooked on this type of pastime. What are their backgrounds, family histories, other interests and private lives like?
I find it sad, that people who are very knowledgeable about birds - you'd have to be to be able to find nests - and presumably are in some twisted way very tuned in to the beauty of birds, spend their time tracking down their nests and stealing their eggs. And when their activities are focussed on the rare and threatened species, as they often are, then such a 'hobby' can seriously damage the status of species.