My love of nature is personal - a bit like a religious belief.  Walking through woods, as I did this weekend, seeing the snowdrops and aconites while listening to birds sing makes me feel good.  Simple as that.

To others, the value may simply be monetary. 

Either way, nature has real value.

Take white-tailed eagles - I think they are amazing, the sight of one is a highlight which lives long in the memory.   I saw my first a long way away in northern Mongolia where I was doing survey work in my 20s.  It was perching on a dead tree next to Lake Hovsgol waiting and watching.  And then it took off,  its barn-door wings filling the sky as it started hunting.

The Scottish white-tailed eagles are worth around £5,000,000 per year to the local economy not least because they attract the attention of people like me who want to see them .  However, all too often in the past, such birds have attracted the attention of those who prize their eggs as trophies - and the rarer the bird the greater the prize in their eyes. 

Fortunately, egg collecting is not as prevalent as in the past.  But there does remain a small and determined number of people willing to risk the conservation status of some of our most precious birds for their own gain.  It is said that it only takes a small number of committed people to change the world.  Unfortunately a small number of fanatics can also cause real harm to wildlife.  Their actions mean we often invest our members money in protecting our rarest breeding birds with 24-hour nest watches, and have an Investigations team which help the police and Crown Prosecution Service bring these criminals to justice. 

And over the years we have had a number of successes.

Last week, in a court case against Matthew Gonshaw, described as the most prolific egg collector in the country, the result was slightly different.  Not because it wasn't successful - it was.  Different because we were able to assist in achieving the first ever Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) to protect nature.  In the UK, an ASBO may be issued in response to "conduct which caused or was likely to cause harm, harassment, alarm or distress, to one or more persons not of the same household as him or herself and where an ASBO is seen as necessary to protect relevant persons from further anti-social acts by the Defendant". 

With many people's help (thank you all !), the court agreed that Gonshaw's activities not only risked the conservation status of species such as avocet, peregrine and osprey, but also met the ASBO benchmark.  As a result, he has a number of conditions he must comply with, not least being banned from Scotland during the breeding season for the next 10 years, possessing equipment used for egg collecting and banning him from RSPB and Wildlife Trust land.  If he contravenes these, he can expect up to 5 years in jail and up to £20,000 fine.  

The court's decision means that our wildlife - including white-tailed eagles - is that little bit safer.  But as with all the wildlife crimes the RSPB investigates, I wish it wasn't necessary.  None of us take pleasure in having to catch criminals.  But whilst it is happening, I am pleased we have our own band of committed people who can change the world of nature for the better - by stopping those who wish to harm it.

Having seen the first 'nature protecting' ASBO issued, who do you think should get the second?

It would be great to hear your views.