While out driving around the beautiful Somerset countryside the other day, I came across an old railway line. Experience has taught me that these are often great places to go looking for wildlife. So I parked the car and took myself off for a bit of a wander.

Although the sleepers and rails had long since been taken up, the track bed itself was still clearly visible. It didn’t take much imagination to picture a small train making its way slowly along the line. Nowadays, this area belongs to the wildlife, and many insects and plants are to be found along the trackside – selfheal, for example.

The medicinal properties of this herbaceous plant can be used to treat a multitude of ailments, such as diarrhoea, colic and stomach upsets. The plant produces beautiful purple flowers that grow from a central stem. These flowers make the plant attractive to bees and other pollinating insects.

There’s also a large spread of beautiful yellow lesser celandine, and in the thick undergrowth, small spiders darted for cover as I squatted down to take a closer look at a two spot ladybird.

I was watching a couple of speckled wood butterflies dancing in the air, when something else caught my eye. It was a common lizard lying on the track bed with its body quite flat, soaking up the warmth of the sun.

Since old railway lines make such a perfect place for wildlife watching, why not give it a try?

L B Loxley