Nature on track

Endangered bumblebees, sifting spoonbills and trespassing tortoises- Britain's rail network is a rich and unlikely wildlife haven, finds Vicky Liddell

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TRAIN travel has changed enormously since the poet Edward Thomas made his famous unscheduled stop at Adlestrop in 1914 and found himself surrounded by 'willows... meadowsweet and haycocks dry... [and] all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire'. However, the denizens of the natural world that exist in the land around railways are still gloriously—and surprisingly—diverse.

Often referred to as 'green corridors', the 20,000 miles of rail track crisscrossing Britain have become a refuge for many endangered species, including the great crested newt, the hazel dormouse and sand lizards. Most of the UK's 18 species of bats use railway tunnels and bridges for roosting, badgers create homes in embankments and hedges and edges provide both cover for small animals and food for pollinators. The rail-network estate is something of a paradox in this respect: manmade, yet largely free of human interference; both wild and, today, the subject of careful stewardship.

The story begins in 1825, when the Stockton and Darlington Railway—the world's first public passenger route, served by steam trains—opened and the modern age of rail began. By the 1850s, almost all of the main routes on the railways had been established and, as fingers of countryside appeared in built-up areas, wildlife started to appear. During the Steam Age, vegetation alongside the track had to be carefully managed to avoid fires, but the later diesel and electric trains reduced the need for such oversight and the railway verges entered a period of benign neglect that allowed biodiversity to flourish.