Colin Watson

Who was Colin Watson?

Colin Watson 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 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.

Family and friends claimed he had retired from egg collecting during the early 1990s, and his last conviction was 10 years prior to his death. However, he remained on several informal lists maintained by the RSPB and other organizations, detailing around 300 known or suspected egg collectors; the RSPB would log these collectors' cars if they went near the nesting sites of rare birds.