South Tynedale Railway

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary concerns the wonderful South Tynedale Railway at Alston in Cumbria, a narrow gauge line that epitomises the spirit of the small country railway.

Even this saddletank steam locomotive, Harrogate, here being refilled from the water tower by her fireman, harmonises with the line-side vegetation. Harrogate began her life as a shunter in a gasworks but is now in fine fettle in this rural retirement.

On this occasion we decided to follow the footpath beside the track out from Alston into glorious Cumbrian landscape. In summer the lineside is fringed with wild flowers, including spotted orchids, and some very fine displays of guelder rose (above).


The line crosses the South Tyne about half a mile out of town and it was while we were leaning over the bridge parapet that we watched this spotted flycatcher, flitting out from an ash branch and snatching insects. The afternoon was so still that you could hear the bird's beak snap shut over its prey.

Harrogate caught up with us and steamed past, sounding her whistle, hissing steam and pulling her rattling carriages, clicketty-clacking over the rail joints. After she'd passed and disappeared around the bend in the track the flycatcher was still on its branch, undisturbed by the passing mechanical monster. 

A transport system at one with its rural surroundings...

For some more photos of wildlife and scenery along the South Tynedale Railway, click here

Bright Eyes

There's been something of a roe deer population explosion up here in the North East in recent years, so it's not that unusual to see them during a country walk, but this encounter was a little out of the ordinary. We spotted this doe deep in the shadow of a pine plantation and with sunlit fields behind her she was little more that a silhouette - but her eyes shone in the gloom. I've often seen eyeshine in animals when they've seen caught in the car headlights in the dark (the cat's eyes effect) but it's not so often that you see it in daylight; it's only visible here because it was so dark in the plantation - the fact that I got a picture at all is a tribute to lens image stabilisation technology. 

 Here is the lovely blue-eyed doe after having the shadow areas lightened - but that's all. 

 Here's the head portion of the image enlarged, showing the eyeshine more clearly - spooky, eh? The eyes shine like this because of a highly reflective layer behind the retina (the tapetum lucidum) which reflects light back through the retinal cells and enhances the animal's vision in dim light.

 As soon as she turned her head away the effect disappeared.

A little further down the footpath (beside the South Tynedale Railway at Alston) we met her consort, who spotted us immediately ...

 .... watched us for a minute or two while chewing a leaf ...

... then ambled off into the undergrowth, with just a parting glance in our direction.

South Tynedale Railway

I can’t let the weekend slip past without extolling the virtues of the wonderful South Tynedale Railway, which we visited yesterday morning. This narrow gauge line, with follows the course of the South Tyne from Alston, perfectly preserves the charm of the rural branch lines that were axed by Beeching. A well surfaced footpath follows the tracks out through inspiring countryside. If you take the train out from Alston to Kirkhaugh you can walk back the two miles to the station, taking in the wildlife along the way, with the promise of tea and home-made cakes in the station cafe. Highly recommended. For a few photos of some of the wildlife that we saw, take a look at the post that preceeds this one. You can find out more about the railway at http://www.strps.org.uk/index.htm

and more about Alston at http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/alston.htm

Wildlife alongside the South Tynedale Railway

A few highlights on our walk in South Tynedale, from the footpath beside the narrow gauge railway, including a song thrush giving it full volume, a willow warbler, water avens just coming into flower, a hunting stoat and a wasp chewing wood fibres from the footpath signpost, for nest building.