A tiny, rare flower which had to be moved to make way for a £110m nuclear waste dump, is now thriving in its new home, say botanists.
Ecologists at Dounreay in Caithness had to relocate nearly 4,000 Scottish primrose plants to another safe location on the site in a painstaking job.
They have now hailed “Operation Primrose” a success, with new seedlings growing.
The rare and delicate Primula scotia – which only grow in the far north – were moved in July 2011 to avoid them being trampled on in the construction of Scotland’s biggest nuclear dump, which was completed earlier this year.
When the new low level waste facility was being drafted, the design team identified significant populations of Scottish primrose, a tiny bluish/purple flower which prefers the relatively mild winters and cool summers that the north coast provides. Its recorded areas have decreased significantly over the last 60 years.
In fact ecologists found that Dounreay, which is being decommissioned at a cost of £1.6bn, held some of the most important populations of the Scottish primrose.
KB Environmental carried out the relocation, checked on their progress, and now say the plants are “thriving” at a site further east along the coast.
The Scottish primrose is an endemic species of international importance because it only grows in Caithness, Orkney and Sutherland.