About the Railway Nature and Environment

Managing the Environment

Primroses in Toftwood Cutting.

A hay meadow, covered in buttercups, is perhaps one of the most evocative images of summer. Yet this habitat, like so many in Britain, is entirely man-made. Left to its own devices, the grassland will be replaced first by brambles, blackthorn or hawthorn, then by birch and ash trees. Over the course of several decades, this will finally be replaced by oak woodland.

Knapweed, a common grassland perennial. Flowers June - August.

On the Mid-Norfolk Railway, you can see all of these stages except for mature oak woodland. After the line's closure to passengers in 1969, there was no reason for BR to continue the costly maintenance of the banks, and so the scrub was allowed to close in. We have been gradually restoring the banks to their original condition, but it's a long, hard job. As soon as the light can reach the ground, it's amazing how quickly the flowers re-colonise the land. Their seeds have been lying dormant in the soil for all this time, awaiting their chance.

These galls, which grow on roses, are caused by the larvae of the gall wasp Diplolepis rosae. The larva itself lives in the centre of the gall.

Traditionally, a hay meadow would have been mown each summer, and then grazed by cattle or sheep during the autumn. As well as preventing the encroachment of the trees, this management regime had one other important effect: it prevented a build-up of nutrients in the soil.

Vigorous weeds will tend to take over if given the opportunity, but they do require a rich soil. By reducing nutrient levels, other plants, including the wild flowers, are given the opportunity to thrive. It is a counterintuitive fact that the poorest of soils are usually the ones with the highest plant diversity.

Hedge Bindweed

With the plants come those animals that depend on them. The flowers, leaves and seeds are all important food resources for various species of insects and other invertebrates. They in turn fall prey to larger predators, including owls, kestrels, badgers, hedgehogs, foxes, weasels and bats.

Some species of birds, including skylarks, rely on the meadow for their ground-level nest sites.

Common Cinquefoil

Sadly, the traditional methods are no longer practised widely. Grass is grown to feed a farmer's animals during the winter months, and that purpose is better served by spraying the fields with fertilisers, or even ploughing and re-seeding whole areas. Instead of making hay, the crop is wrapped in plastic and fermented to produce silage. Only a handful of species can survive this intensive management, and rye grass predominates. You will be lucky to see any wild flowers at all in a modern silage crop.

The economics of the situation are such that very little species-rich grassland is left. It is a rare and valuable habitat. In the last century, it has declined by over 97%. The few areas that remain are small and isolated.

Our Plans

Bluebells growing near Dereham Station.

At present, a large part of the lineside is covered in scrub. Our permanent way gang, whose job it is to maintain the railway infrastructure, have been busily chopping down and burning all of these invasive weeds. This is the first step towards the restoration of the banks to their original condition.

Tansy, an aromatic perennial of disturbed land. Yellow flowers appear July - September.

We have occasionally found that people are bothered by the removal of the scrub, worrying that the work might be causing environmental damage. In fact, the reverse is the case, since the range of species that can live in such dense cover is rather limited. Scrub habitats are found anywhere where maintenance is not carried out regularly, whereas grassland is rare and still declining.

Of course, clearing away the trees isn't the end of the story. We also have to carry out maintenance, or the weeds will be back. The traditional method of maintaining a meadow is not practical in a railway setting. Instead, the banks are mown each autumn, and the dry grass is raked up and burnt. The effect is the same, though: a build-up of nutrients in the soil is prevented, and the flowers bloom.

To see this great diversity of life for yourself, you can take a relaxing trip on one of our trains. With the changing seasons, different species come into their own. In early spring, the line is smothered in primroses, cowslips and bluebells. As the summer approaches, everything bursts into life, and this is when you can see the greatest range of flowers. From August, the flowers will have mostly set seeds, and the mowing season gets under way. You can often see the team out with their strimmers at this time of year. With the onset of winter, everything becomes dormant, and so the cycle repeats itself.

All of the photos scattered around this page were taken along the line, and represent the great progress that's been made with this project in the last few years. If you'd like to become involved with this worthwhile endeavour, then please get in touch with our Volunteer Coordinator (volunteer@mnr.org.uk).

Left photo: The distinctive flower of Arum maculatum appears around April - May. Right photo: The attractive (and poisonous) berries ripen in August. All Photos: Barney Stratford