Britain's most notorious collector of rare birds eggs died as he fell from a tree while examining a nest, an inquest heard.

Colin Watson, 62, of Wistow, near Selby, climbed three-quarters of the way up a 40ft larch tree before he fell to his death.

Doncaster Coroner's Court heard Mr Watson died from a punctured heart and multiple rib fractures sustained during the fall in woods near Churchfield Road, Campsall, Doncaster, on May 24.

Coroner Stanley Hooper recorded a verdict of accidental death and said it was not his role to examine the circumstances of the fall.

He said: "There has been suggested to me a reason why Colin Watson might have wanted to climb up a tree at the age of 62 but, because of the way the law operates, I'm not concerned in this inquest as to why he climbed up a tree.

"I'm satisfied he fell from the tree in the middle of the afternoon on the 24th day of May."

Mr Hooper said that during the opening of the inquest in May, the court heard that Mr Watson, a power station worker, travelled to Doncaster from his home on Garman Carr Lane, in Wistow, near Selby, with his friend, David Sargent.

The coroner said the pair went for a cup of tea and then went through a wood and were "chatting and considering things".

He said: "Then Mr Watson climbed up a tree and the next thing his friend, Mr Sargent, was aware of was Mr Watson having fallen."

In a written statement, paramedic Kim Norris said Mr Watson showed no signs of life and died beneath the tree.

A post-mortem conducted by Dr Suzanne Rogers, a consultant histopathologist at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, found that Mr Watson died from a punctured heart caused by rib fractures which were in turn caused by the fall.

In her report, Dr Rogers said: "This man died following a fall from a tree where he had been inspecting a birds' nest."

Dr Rogers also found that Mr Watson had a history of high blood pressure and his wife, Patricia, told the opening of the inquest in May that he suffered from "dizzy spells" quite often.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death at the end of the ten-minute inquest.

At the earlier hearing, in May, Mr Sargent told the court how he and his friend had been looking at the birds' nest when Mr Watson had fallen from the tree.

Mr Sargent said: "Colin said That looks like a sparrowhawk's nest' and he said he'd climb the tree to see if there was anything in the nest.

"I was not paying much attention. Then I heard the sound of breaking branches and a thud."

Following the inquest, Mrs Watson told reporters she did not wish to make a comment.

Collector's list of convictions

Mr Watson, a father of three, travelled the country in a bid to add to his collection of rare birds' eggs.

He had a series of convictions for activities prohibited under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.

The size of his collection was revealed following a raid on his home in 1985.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds found more than 2,200 eggs, including those of a golden eagle, osprey, sparrowhawk and red kite.

Mr Watson told Selby Magistrates' Court that all the eggs - apart from 16 of them - had been collected before the introduction of the 1981 Act which banned the practice.

But he was found guilty and fined £1,700 after the court heard that the data cards which listed the date and place of each egg's collection may not have been genuine.

He later won his appeal but his collection was not returned.

In 1980, he was fined £400 for taking golden eagle eggs from a site in Inverness and two years later he was fined £250 for disturbing peregrine falcons at Shap.

He was also fined £2,000 in 1988 for possession of equipment capable of committing an offence and attempting to take golden eagle eggs in Perth in 1988.

Two years later, in Lerwick, he was fined £1,300 for possession of equipment capable of committing an offence and for the possession of two snipe eggs.