Devon man fined almost £5,000 over wild bird eggs collection

William Beaton took his first egg at the age of five in 1948 and had illegally collected hundreds more since, court told

A retired solicitor from Devon who amassed a collection of hundreds of eggs over nearly 70 years has been fined almost 5,000 and had his haul confiscated.

William Beaton, 73, told Plymouth magistrates he took his first egg - from a blackbird's nest - on a "fine April evening" when he was five.