This is the moment a man with a ‘wild bird egg obsession’ was caught illegally hoarding nearly 3,000 of the rare objects in his home.

Daniel Lingham, 71, was captured on a wildlife trap camera stealing two eggs from a Nightjar nest in Holt Lowes, a nature reserve in Norfolk, in June last year. 

Norfolk Police carried out a subsequent search of his home in Newton St Faith and discovered he had stolen thousands of eggs, including some from birds that were protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Body camera footage showed how officers searched Lingham’s home as he passed over a display case of the illegal eggs he had hoarded. Police also found identifying books, binoculars, and an egg blowing kit.

Lingham admitted today at Norwich Magistrates’ Court to five offences relating to the illegal collection of eggs, Norfolk Police said. 

He also admitted to possessing articles capable of being used to identify and take eggs and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order. He is due to be sentenced in May.

Daniel Lingham, 71, (right) was caught illegally hoarding nearly 3,000 bird eggs in his Norfolk home. Officers are pictured searching the property on July 25, 2023

Lingham pleaded guilty to five offences relating to the theft of the eggs. These included taking nightjar eggs from a nest on June 9, 2023 at Holt. The stolen nightjar eggs are pictured

Among the eggs retrieved from Lingham’s home were song thrush, blackbird and robin eggs (pictured). Officers found a total of 2,995 eggs within his home

The bodycamera footage showed how officers found a total of 2,995 eggs within the home, including 2,429 eggs from native birds – protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act – in his bedroom.

Of those, 548 were from native birds on the amber list of birds of conservation concern, and a further 546 were of the most serious concern on the red list including linnet, green finch, yellowhammer and house sparrow.

A further collection of eggs, which appeared newer, was found behind a bath panel including a box containing a pair of nightjar eggs with a label ‘Nightjar 2, Holt Lowes June 9’, police said.

Officers also found identifying books, binoculars and an egg-blowing kit.

In an interview with police, Lingham said all of the eggs, bar the Nightjar ones, had been taken before a previous conviction in 2018.

He claimed a collection on display in a cabinet in the bedroom had come from an Essex house clearance and while they were his, he had not taken them himself from the wild, the court heard.

Lingham also said he had been looking for adders and tiger beetles when he was ‘tempted’ by the nightjar eggs due to his egg-collecting addiction, which was a mental health issue, the force said.

Daniel Lingham, 71, is pictured on July 25, 2023 during the search of his home. He is seen handing an officer a drawer containing bird eggs which he had gathered and collected

In an interview with police, Lingham said all of the eggs, bar the Nightjar ones, had been taken before a previous conviction in 2018. Pictured are some of the eggs confiscated from his home

Norfolk Police carried out a subsequent search of his home in Newton St Faith and discovered he had stolen thousands of eggs, including some from birds that were protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Pictured: Stolen eggs recovered from Lingham’s home

Officers also found identifying books, binoculars and an egg-blowing kit in his home. Pictured are eggs discovered during the search

Lingham claimed a collection on display in a cabinet in the bedroom had come from an Essex house clearance and while they were his, he had not taken them himself from the wild

He appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court today, where he pleaded guilty to five offences relating to the theft of the eggs. 

These included taking eggs from a nightjar on June 9, 2023 at Holt, and possessing 2,429 eggs of a non-schedule 1 wild bird on July 25, 2023 – the day police searched his home.

He also admitted possessing 22 Schedule 1 bird eggs in July 2023, possessing articles capable of being used to identify and take eggs and breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order on June 9, 2023.

Lingham has two previous convictions for similar crimes.

In 2005, he was jailed for 10 weeks after police found a collection of almost 4,000 eggs in his home.

While in 2018, he was found to be in possession of more than 5,000 eggs for which he was jailed for 18 weeks and handed a 10-year Criminal Behaviour Order aimed at stopping him from committing similar crimes in the future, Norfolk Police said.

Under the order, Lingham is banned from entering Holt Lowes between February 1 and October 1 as well as many other sites across Norfolk and nationally – many of which appeared on place-name labels among the boxes, Norfolk Police said.

Tom Grose, RSPB investigations officer, said: ‘The scale of egg theft which Lingham has committed over the last 20 years is shocking.

‘Sadly, his obsession with collecting wild birds’ eggs has ultimately resulted in thousands of breeding birds, which have invested huge amounts of energy into rearing young, to fail.

‘We’re relieved that this type of crime is now relatively rare in the UK, but this latest case has revealed that the breeding success of the nightjar, a species of conservation concern, has again been targeted in Norfolk by Lingham’s illegal actions.’

Lingham also said he had been looking for adders and tiger beetles when he was ‘tempted’ by the nightjar eggs due to his egg-collecting addiction, which was a mental health issue, the court heard

PC Chris Shelley, from the Op Randall Rural Crime Team, said: ‘Egg collecting should be a hobby that is confined to the history books, having been made illegal in 1954.

‘Thankfully, there are very few individuals now committing this crime but these few, including Lingham, cause a huge amount of harm to thousands of birds, including some of our most at-risk species – in this case nightjar, linnet, yellow hammer and house sparrows to name just a few.

‘We would always encourage anyone who sees suspicious activity around bird nests in the coming months to report as much detail as possible using our online form or 999 if in progress.’

Lingham is due to be sentenced on May 3.