The first bird's egg

[Primrose]

I've just found a broken bird's egg shell on my lawn. Surely it's a little early for eggs to be hatching? Possibly the egg has been it's been stolen from a nest by a magpie or other bird but surely even so, isn't it a little early for eggs with all the cold weather & frosty nights we've been having?

[Monika]

If it was fairly large, it could be from a collared dove which nests very early, Primrose. If slightly smaller, a mistle thrush or, smaller still, long-tailed tits, all fairly early nesters.

[Primrose]

Yes Monika - it actually was quite a large egg, much larger than a robin, chaffinch, etc.
You often normally only see picture of eggs in bird books which don't accurately depict their size in comparison with other birds, so it's difficult to tell, but this had a white shell and was much harder and bigger than some of the little blue egg shells I sometimes find lying around on the ground.
I shall check our visiting collared doves to see if they're looking flustered and harrassed at having young ones to feed.