The butterfly effect During lockdown in spring last year I found and photographed a lapwing’s nest and thereby scratched a delicious itch that has been semi-dormant within me for 50 years. As a child I wilfully, illegally collected about a dozen wild birds’ eggs and stored these treasures in a shoebox in my bedroom. Most naturalists of my vintage will freely admit that this is how their lifelong passions for wildlife began. By 12 years old I had abandoned the illicit ways of my youth, but even today I find wild bird nests and their contents completely entrancing. Gazing down at this lapwing clutch I could easily understand, if not forgive, the motivations of the criminal egg collector. Unique, fragile and exquisite, eggs are nature’s greatest works of art.