Colin Watson (egg collector)

Colin Watson
Born	c. 1943
Died	2006 South Yorkshire, England
Cause of death	Fall from tree
Nationality	British
Known for	Egg collecting
Criminal charge	Various
Criminal penalty	Fines

Colin Watson (c. 1943–2006) was a British egg collector who stole the eggs of rare and wild birds from protected wildlife sites throughout Great Britain for over twenty years before his death.

Despite six convictions and fines in thousands of pounds, he amassed the largest egg collection in the country before the collection was confiscated by agents of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) during a 1985 raid on his home. The collection numbered more than 2,000 eggs, including eggs from species such as golden eagles and osprey. He successfully defended himself against the subsequent charge of illegal possession in April 1985, claiming that, with the exception of sixteen eggs, he had collected his eggs before the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. Later in his life, he was convicted on other charges and was issued a £2,800 fine. A year later, he was accused of attempting to cut down an osprey nesting tree with a chainsaw in Loch Garten, Scotland.

Although family and friends claimed he had retired from egg collecting during the early 1990s, he remained on several informal lists maintained by the RSPB and other organizations of around 300 known or suspected egg collectors; the RSPB would log these collectors' cars if they went near the nesting sites of rare birds.

He eventually died after falling 12 metres (39 ft) from a larch tree he climbed to observe a nest of a protected species in South Yorkshire. Although he remained alive shortly after his fall, he died before the arrival of paramedics and was officially pronounced dead on the scene.

External links

• The Guardian: Birder falls to his death from larch tree while checking out unusual nest by Martin Wainwright
• The Times: Prolific egg thief dies in 40ft fall from tree by Alan Hamilton

Persondata
Name	Watson, Colin
Alternative names
Short description	Egg collector
Date of birth	1943
Place of birth
Date of death	2006
Place of death	South Yorkshire, England