How many of you Too and Froms (Poms) like myself started
birding as a childhood egg collector?
Being a country kid in north west England at that time egg
collecting was as popular as train spotting or stamp collecting.
My collection was stored in the top drawer of my dressing table
on a layer of cotton-wool.
I spent many hours walking country lanes in search of nests,
we never took all the eggs from a nest only one and the nest
would be monitored until the young had fledged.
I have vivid memories of climbing Hawthorn bushes to get at
magpies nests only to find nothing for all the scratches and
pricks.
Lapwing and Waterhen eggs now this was different story we
ate them, six Waterhen eggs made a nice omelette.
We would use a thorn from an Hawthorn bush to make a small
hole in each end of an egg, then blow out the contents.
Eggs would be tested in water, at an early to advanced stage
of incubation the eggs would float, a fresh laid egg would sink,
fertile eggs where returned to the nest.
Ian Clayton
Townsville
North Qld.
Phone 07 4789 1306
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