BBC flaps to avoid pigeon street

Watch out for low-flying birds of prey if you are visiting the new Broadcasting House. The BBC has come up with a novel way of stopping plagues of pigeons descending on its shiny new central London headquarters. It has hired a flock of specially trained hawks from Ecolab Pest Elimination. That's right, hawks. The Harris hawks , no less, will apparently swoop down on loitering pigeons and scare them off, according to BBC in-house magazine Ariel. "The cost of the hawking programme is chicken feed compared to the costs of clearing up pigeon waste which is a hazardous substance and poses a health and safety risk," a BBC spokesman tells Monkey. Surely the Beeb should have just called in Steve Coogan's pest control expert Tommy Saxondale ?