Dounreay nuclear site proves the bee's knees for endangered species

Published on Thursday 29 July 2010 16:57

A SAFE haven for a rare species has been created in the heart of one of Scotland's biggest demolition sites.

•The Great Yellow Bumblebee has been seen on grassland at the Dounreay nuclear site

While a swathe of buildings and radiological hazards disappear from the Dounreay nuclear site, a small patch of grassland is flourishing as a nature reserve.

The site is being allowed to return to a natural state and help stabilise the local population of the Great Yellow Bumblebee, the UK's rarest species and one of the most threatened.

The meadow was created in a field in front of the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR), once the hub of Britain's fast breeder research and development programme.

The 250 megawatt reactor operated between 1974 and 1994 and is now being cleaned out and dismantled as part of the programme to decommission Dounreay over the next 15 years at a cost of 2.6 billion.

The field, once used as a football pitch for staff, was never developed and is radiologically clean. It already is already home to a wide variety of species such as orchids, knapweed, white clover and meadow grasses.

The site will provide a dependable source of food for the Great Yellow Bumblebee which is found in Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney, the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree, but nowhere else in the country. One of the rare bees has already been spotted in the meadow.

The development of the site is now part of Dounreay's biodiversity action plan during International Biodiversity year.

The site is taking advice from Bob Dawson, Scottish conservation officer for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, based at Stirling University.

He suggested the environment team survey the meadow to see what grows naturally during the year, before any consideration is given to sowing the area with a wild flower seed mix.

Doug Graham, environment manager for Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd, which is in charge of the site decomissioning, said: "Because nuclear sites are closed to the public, they are a good haven for wildlife, as it doesn't have to compete with other activities, such as farming, for the use of the land.

"Dounreay already has otters, colonies of wild birds, and rare vegetation such as the oyster plant and primula scotica."

Simon Middlemas, DSRL's managing director, is also enthusiastic about the project.

"It seems appropriate to return land on the site back to nature, as our mission is to clean up and restore our environment," he said.

"Many of the grassed areas of site are now being allowed to return to a wilder state, where it doesn't impact on security or the need for monitoring. This not only saves money on maintenance, but encourages wildlife."

The UK currently has 24 bumblebee species. Since the Second World War two species have become nationally extinct

- the short haired bumblebee and Cullums bumblebee - and a further six are designated priority species in recognition of the need for conservation action.

The Great Yellow Bumblebee is widespread in northern and central Europe, and Asia, but is thought to be declining throughout this range.

Numbers had drastically reduced in the UK since the 1960s and is now classified as "nationally scarce" due to its small and fragmented populations.

Ben Darvill, director of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: "The Great Yellow Bumblebee is really struggling, particularly on the mainland. From one year to the next we are concerned about them being still there. Any habitat that can be provided for them will be very helpful indeed.

"The project to enhance the area to make them wildflower-rich is at a fairly early stage, but, they have found the Great Yellow Bumblebee using the site already which is brilliant news.

"It's credit to Dounreay that they are receptive to this idea. There is no reason to think that the fact there is a nuclear site there would in any way harm the bumblebees."

A project aimed at re-introducing the short-haired bumblebee, which is extinct in the UK but has survived in New Zealand, is taking place near another nuclear site at Dungeness in Kent.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Nature reserves have sprung up in places which have become no-go areas for humans.

When the Chernobyl disaster forced the evacuation of 135,000 people from the surrounding area, animals such as moose, wolves, deer, foxes and rabbits thrived.

RAF Fylingdales, which would have issued the four minute warning in the event of a nuclear attack, is now responsible for maintaining 3,000 acres of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.

The site includes about 80 rare species of birds, plants and animals.

The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is inaccessible to humans which has allowed rare and endangered species to flourish.