Sadly, the four remaining nestlings perished on the evening of Saturday, 6 June.

A message from Uachtaráin na hÉireann, Mary McAleese

I’m sure that, like me, you will have been saddened to learn of the deaths of the young Blue Tit chicks here in Áras an Uachtaráin. Nature can be harsh, and unfortunately these tiny nestlings failed to make it on this occasion. This is particularly upsetting because they were so close to fledging, and were due to make their first flights any day now.

While it is impossible to be certain, the advice I have received from the Mooney show team and BirdWatch Ireland is that it seems likely that the prolonged spell of wet weather on Saturday was the reason for their deaths. It followed a long period of warm, sunny weather, and would have caused both an unexpected difficulty for the mother bird in finding food food and a sudden drop in temperature. The unfortunate youngsters, not yet fully able to keep themselves warm and too big now for their mother to carry out this task, were simply unable to survive.

There was no action that could have been taken that would have prevented this sad outcome, but I am heartened to know that the mother bird has survived and will hopefully go on to try again next year. She had a particularly tough nesting season this year, following the disappearance of her mate, and hopefully she will enjoy better luck the next time around.

At the launch of this exciting nestbox project, I mentioned that it represented the ultimate in reality television. The harsh reality is that most baby birds fail to make it, and the Mooney show team is to be commended for not flinching from showing that reality. Despite our familiarity with them and the way they became a daily presence in homes and schools around the country, we must not forget that these Blue Tits were wild animals. As with all wildlife, they were subject to enormous survival pressures, and it would have been a disservice both to them and to the viewers around the world not to show that.

I would like to thank the Mooney show team and the staff of BirdWatch Ireland for allowing us this unique and fascinating glimpse into the normally hidden lives of these beautiful creatures. Though the wonders of internet technology, we have been there to witness their ups and, sadly, their downs, and it has been a genuine privilege to have been a part of that.

I look forward to welcoming many more broods of Blue Tits here at Áras an Uachtaráin in the future, and I thank you for sharing so enthusiastically in this remarkable experience with my family and me. "