Eggstraordinary

I didn't notice at first.  I had wandered down the garden to check for any damage from yesterday's gales (a few bent daffodils, one prostrate broad bean plant, nothing serious) and it was only on my way back to the house, past the greenhouse, that my eye was taken by something on the standing area outside the greenhouse door.  There were two eggs lying there, smaller than a hen's egg, larger than a pigeon's, about the size of a plum.  And one of the pots standing by the door, a small terracotta pot with a viola in it, was lying on its side (just visible at the top of the photo).

It must be one of the hen pheasants who have been visiting, chaperoned by the cock, in recent days.  I found a single egg in a large pot on the patio a couple of summers ago, apparently abandoned, and I surmise that pheasants aren't necessarily particularly careful parents.  My guess is that she tried to use the pot as a nest, or at least a landing pad for the eggs as they were laid - pheasants think nothing of walking on the top of small pots - and, when it tipped over, she ran off.  The eggs were cold by the time I found them this morning, so there was no longer anything to be done.  I hope she has a more suitable nest somewhere to hatch any other eggs she might lay.