Cold weather kills blue tits that captured nation's heart
Evening Herald
The chicks were watched by the nation via a webcam in their nest set up by Derek Mooney.
Tuesday June 09 2009
The weekend weather washout has claimed its highest casualties.
The four blue tit chicks, which kept the nation captivated during their short lives, died when temperatures plunged and the heaven's opened last Saturday.
The birds were beamed live around the world via a webcam hooked up to their nest, in Aras an Uachtarain.
The blue tits were part of a Nestwatch project championed by RTE presenter Derek Mooney. Their lives were under constant surveillance.
However, the four chicks died on Saturday, with the blame being placed on the unseasonably cold weather.
An observer told the heartbreaking tale of how the mother tried to feed her chicks, before eventually sheltering them, despite the fact they were dead.
President Mary McAleese said in a statement: "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.
Survive
"It followed a long period of warm, sunny weather and would have caused both an unexpected difficulty for the mother bird in finding food and a sudden drop in temperature."
The President added: "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."
A live webcam was set up by the Mooney programme so that internet users could follow the family's progress.
The blue tit laid six eggs in the nest at Aras an Uachtarain but none of them survived.
President McAleese said: "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."
- Cormac Murphy
