Keepers help in fight against egg collectors

There is something elemental about happening upon a wild nest and gazing at the eggs within. Is it their combination of fragility and gem-like colouration, the sheer variety of size and shape, or the tantalising thought of the bird to come that captures the imagination most?

Whatever it may be, the collection of eggs for their beauty, rather than calorific value, has proved an enduring feature of British ornithology for more than 350 years.

The Natural History Museum (NHM) at Tring holds the largest collection of bird eggs in the world, numbering several hundred thousand. Most of the Tring curation comprises eggs that were collected in the 18th, 19th and mid-20th centuries.

The majority are from private collections, donated to the museum following the change in the law in 1981 that made possession of bird eggs