"What on earth are you doing with an egg collection" said a visitor.

"...and that book! I'm shocked, you surprize me Steve"

Don't panic, remember my grandfather's favourite saying?

Don't just look at things, 'see' them.

When I was a 10yr old, collecting eggs was legal but my grandad gave me this book for me to learn all about birds as well as everything else in the natural world and it has served me very well, in particular when doing nesting bird surveys. The egg collection above I found in a sea captain's trunk under a pile of coal in an old shed in a house I bought in the Highlands of Scotland when I was 50yrs old. Some of those eggs are from British birds but others are from all over the world and I often fantasize if perhaps they were from Darwen's ship.

I took them to a museum but they told me that it was illegal for them to accept birds eggs and nor could I even dare take them to the Police station and hand them in thought I could keep them myself as long as I never tried to sell them. So here they are, in my front room today.

I don't deliberately search for nests and eggs but after reading books like this I can spot where they are. However, there are times when I accidently come upon one and very quickly take a snapshot but as a child felt as though it was a sight only God should get a glimpse of as it's such a wonderous sight.

Chaffinch nest and eggs, pale blue with deep cherry markings,

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