A plan is under consideration to cull seagulls at the Sellafield nuclear site in northern England amid concerns that some have been swimming in open-air storage ponds containing plutonium and radioactive waste, The Times newspaper reported. "They fly in and float around on the open waste ponds and act as a gateway to poison the wider area," claimed Martin Forwood of anti-nuclear group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE). Ali McKibbin, media relations manager at Sellafield, said that, while a mass cull is under discussion, the seagull problem was "under control", that there was no danger to the public and any methods used to kill the birds would be humane. She said that drugged bait would probably be the method used, although no final decision had yet been made. McKibbin added, "A professional pest control organization is employed to manage the number of gulls. All activities are done under licence in a safe and humane manner that causes the gulls minimum distress and suffering." She noted that some 350 animal carcasses - mostly birds but also some small mammals - were being stored in an industrial freezer at Sellafield as, under Environment Agency rules, any animal that dies on the site must be treated as nuclear waste as it may have been exposed to radiation. They will eventually be disposed of in a special landfill facility at Sellafield.

Nuclear sites are often havens for wildlife, but Britain's Sellafield proved too popular recently when a swarm of 40,000 bees descended on its Waste Encapsulation Plant. The main entrance near where the bees had gathered was immediately closed, and pest control specialists were summoned to neutralise the insect threat. However, the tiny creatures were saved from doom by the quick thinking of Tony Calvin, manufacturing manager at the neighbouring Magnox Encapsulation Plant. An amateur bee-keeper for ten years, Calvin raced home to fetch his specialised equipment before tempting the swarm to a new hive and moving them to a more becoming environment.

[Daily Mail, The Sun, 11 March] A rare Great Bustard - the heaviest flying bird in the world - has been paying regular visits to the vicinity of Oldbury nuclear power plant in Gloucestershire, UK. The female bird, nicknamed 'Nuke', is thought to be from the first group of chicks introduced into the UK from Russia by the Great Bustard Group in 2004. The giant birds, weighing up to 20 kilograms and with a wingspan of up to 2.4 metres, were driven from the UK in the 1840s by hunting and changes in agriculture. Kate Baxter, an environmental engineer at Oldbury, said that a biodiversity project at the plant means the land supports a varied and interesting range of plants and animals. Al Doors of the Great Bustard Group commented: "It's hugely exciting to see the Great Bustards are finally becoming adventurous and choosing where they would like to live."