Empty nest syndrome!

I have peeped very briefly every day at the pheasant sat on her nest incubating her eggs. Throughout all this dreadful weather she has stayed put and I was very fearful that the eggs would hatch on one of those cold wet days, the chicks would have struggled to survive the low temperatures and soggy weather. Hurray! I went today and she had hatched her eggs on this lovely bright sunny day. What a relief, at least they stand a chance of surviving and finding food now it is drier. Here is a photo of the nest with the broken egg shells. You will see there are 3 that have not hatched. They must not have been fertilized. The mother will have taken the chicks away from the nest now and will not return. Sometimes if we are lucky we catch a glimpse of them running after their mother, so cute and fluffy!

The pheasants nest after the chicks have hatched!