Countless hours spent in the farmland and woods near the housing estate where he was brought up engendered in Colin Prior a lifelong passion for nature. For him, the loss of bird and animal species from UK habitats feels personal. The acclaimed photographer, whose name is synonymous with panoramic landscapes of his native Scotland and across the world, is publishing a series that’s been a decade in the making. The resulting book, Fragile, pairs bird eggs and their habitats in diptychs designed to inspire awe – and raise uncomfortable questions about how much we value these precious things. “During the course of my lifetime I have witnessed at first hand the demise of myriad bird species both in the countryside where I grew up and throughout the rest of Scotland,” writes Prior in the introduction to Fragile. “I have always felt a deep spiritual connection to the natural world, one that was nurtured during my childhood.” To photograph the eggs, Prior collaborated with Bob McGowan, senior curator in the department of natural sciences...

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