A tree surgeon abseiled down a quarry wall and stole peregrine falcon eggs while the distressed birds desperately called out to feed his drug addiction.
RSPB footage from the nest showed Christopher Wheeldon appear in the shoot, reach into it, remove the valuable prize and place it in a box.
The 34-year-old dad-of-two then calls out to an accomplice to pull him up.
After stealing the eggs, the defendant, of Matlock, then commits several shop thefts to steal items to feed his heroin addiction.
Peregrine falcon eggs are popular with criminal collectors who have been known to build up collections of different rare species.
Christopher Wheeldon pleaded guilty to charges of disturbing the nesting site of a protected bird, taking the eggs of a protected bird, and five counts of shoplifting
RSPB footage from the nest showed Christopher Wheeldon appear in the shoot, reach into it, remove the valuable prize and place it in a box
Jailing him for 18 weeks at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Stephen Flint said: ‘It seems even the birds are not beyond your thieving grasp.
‘You may see them simply as eggs for profit but this causes damage to the environment and it is a deplorable thing to do. In your state, hanging off anything, whether it’s a quarry wall or a tree, is not the best thing to do.’
Lynn Bickley, for the prosecution, said the theft of the eggs took place at Bolsover Moor Quarry, in Whaley Road, Whaley, on April 23 last year.
She said the nest was being monitored by the RSPB who during a previous visit to check on it had placed a covert camera close by to film the development of the unborn chicks.
The prosecutor said: ‘Just after 4pm the peregrines can be seen and heard ‘alarm calling’ with the female on the nest turning her head and looking upwards.
‘A green rope comes into view and Mr Wheeldon can be seen carrying a box and an insulated bag.
‘He reaches into the nest three times, puts the eggs in the box and the box in the insulated bag.
‘He then calls up ‘pull’ to someone who is above him. The two peregrines can still be heard alarm calling and remained at the site until 12.10pm the following day.’
Miss Bickley said Wheeldon was recognised and visited and ropes and spikes he used to carry out the offences were found at his then address in Lime Grove, Darley Dale.
Derbyshire area is a ‘hot spot’ for the thefts of peregrine falcon eggs
She told the court that the Derbyshire area is a ‘hot spot’ for the thefts of peregrine falcon eggs and is the second worst county in the country for the number of offences committed here.
Now of Wheatley Gardens, Two Dales, the defendant pleaded guilty to charges of disturbing the nesting site of a protected bird, taking the eggs of a protected bird, and five counts of shoplifting, four of which were committed in the first week of January this year at stores in the Matlock area.
Clare James, mitigating, said her client has two young children aged four and 11, is a qualified tree surgeon and used to work on the railways until he was sacked following a positive alcohol and drug test.
She said he then worked for Chesterfield Town Council until losing his job when he lost his driving licence for drug driving in 2021.
Miss James said: ‘There is nothing I can say in relation to the offence in terms of mitigation. He abseiled down the cliff to get the eggs and he says he can’t give an explanation why he did it himself.’