Serial wild bird egg thief avoids jail

Daniel Lingham, a prolific egg thief from Norfolk, has avoided jail following his recent sentencing.

Lingham, 71, was caught on a wildlife camera during June 2023 taking European Nightjar eggs from a nature reserve near Holt in Norfolk. He pleaded guilty to five charges in February and has been handed a suspended jail term for illegally amassing a collection of almost 3,000 wild birds' eggs.

He had previously been jailed in 2005 and 2018 after thousands of eggs were found at his home in Newton St Faith near Norwich.

Police bodycam footage captured the moment Lingham's home was raided (Norfolk Constabulary).

 

Egg-collecting addict

Josephine Jones, prosecuting, told Norwich magistrates that Lingham "said he could not help himself due to his addiction to collecting eggs".

He had claimed eggs at his home were from an old collection he had in storage when police last raided his address and from a collection he was given by a friend in Essex, she added.

Of the 2,995 found, 548 were from Amber-Listed species with a further 546 Red Listed, including Yellowhammer and House Sparrow.

 

Rare birds' eggs

A collection of eggs was found behind a bath panel including a box containing a pair of nightjar eggs with a label "Nightjar 2, Holt Lowes June 9".

Ms Jones said collectors kept eggs "as trophies for personal gratification."

"If the whole clutch [of eggs] is taken and the species is in any way rare, the egg collection will have a damaging effect on the conservation," she said.

 

Mental health issues

James Burrows said of Lingham: "There's an extensive history of some mental health issues."

He added that Lingham had "expressed being addicted to egg collecting".

"There's no monetary gain in any of this," said Mr Burrows. "It's that drive, that addiction that keeps people coming back unfortunately."

Lingham admitted taking the nightjar eggs and possessing 2,429 eggs of a non-schedule 1 wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. He also admitted possessing 22 Schedule 1 bird eggs, possessing articles capable of being used to identify and take eggs, and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order which banned him from entering Holt Lowes.

He was ordered to comply with a 12-month mental health treatment requirement, including 15 rehabilitation activity days.

Following Lingham's 2018 imprisonment, his clutch of thousands of rare birds' eggs were donated to the Natural History Museum.