(BIRD CHIRPING)
Jackdaw.
Magpie.
Jackdaw.
Magpie.
This is a particularly versatile
rubber mould.
It's made...
It comes from France.
They make artificial limbs with it.
20 or 30 years ago, I was a taxidermist.
I would get requests from people
who wanted a bird in a case.
"Can you put a nest with some eggs in?"
I started making a few eggs.
They weren't particularly good,
but they looked like eggs!
I experimented
with all sorts of different ways
until I found
what I thought was reasonable.
But I'm still learning. You do, don't you?
I'm only 75.
When I discovered the internet
about 15 years ago,
and started using eBay,
there was a lot of interest,
not just from the local village,
but all over the world.
Russia, Pakistan, Dubai...
It's amazing
the people that are in the world
that I don't know about! (CHUCKLES)
I was approached by Andy and Peter Holden
to replicate several thousand...eggs
that were once destroyed
by the law of the land
because they were taken
from illegal egg collectors.
I will show you the process.
These ones have been injected
with plaster and resin.
And I will roll those
for about seven minutes.
After about 50, they can be demoulded.
These are hollow and they can break
if you're a bit clumsy
getting these out of the mould.
That's it.
There's your great auk egg.
There's a line round there
that can be rubbed out quite easily.
See this plaster on my thumb? (LAUGHS)
It's from making
these little holes in eggs!
While it's soft,
you can make a little hole,
which will...
..just fit on a stick with the egg.
And there's a little tut
on the end of all those.
Snip it off...
..make a little hole.
Without making a little hole
in your finger!
(BIRDSONG)
These are guillemot eggs.
They're noticeably that shape
because they're not in a nest —
they're laid on a cliff, on a rock.
And as they roll,
they roll in a circle, you know,
and they didn't fall off the cliff.
INTERVIEWER: Do your grandchildren
like what you do?
They do watch me,
but they're not really old enough to...
The one's four...
..and the other is about two.
(CHUCKLES)
I would hope that they would
take an interest.
I'm working on it, slowly.
My two boys aren't really interested.
They wouldn't get on very long
with their father, anyway!
I'm a perfectionist.
I'm never satisfied with my own work,
so therefore,
how could I possibly be satisfied
with anybody else's?
To copy nature 100% is impossible.
If you get it at 95%, you're doing well.
