On the box: Bird’s-eye viewing the new reality TV

A new reality TV craze is sweeping the country with householders glued to bird boxes.

A leading ornithologist said the huge popularity of RTÉ Radio’s Mooney Show Nestwatch, coupled with the sale of bird boxes complete with webcams in the supermarket Aldi, has sparked the new trend.

Eric Dempsey, from birdsireland.com, said the footage has opened people’s eyes to the heroics of birds like blue-tits and swallows in trying to feed a nest full of starving chicks.