FROM soaring red kites to unusual plants, the Didcot Railway Centre has published a guide exploring the nature that can be found on its site.

A celebration event on Bank Holiday Monday saw the new guide launched by Didcot's Mayor Bill Service, with a little help from some feathered friends.

It is hoped that it will help tempt in a few more visitors, particularly those who wouldn't normally be interested in visiting for the railway heritage.

The popular railway centre is built on waste land, sandwiched between two sets of railway tracks.

This provides a unique and valuable habitat for wildlife.

Plants in particular thrive near the railways because they can easily spread along the tracks and live relatively undisturbed.

The centre's mature trees and shrubs provide good breeding sites for robins and wrens, blue tits, great tits and blackbirds.

Goldfinches and woodpeckers are also regular visitors and red kites, common in this part of the world, soar overhead.

Along with the rabbits, squirrels and urban foxes, there's even a special place in the guide for the station cat, Marmalade.

Commercial manager Ann Middleton said: "One of our main aims is to broaden the appeal of the centre and reach a wider audience.

"If a family comes to visit, some of them may be more interested in the flowers and birds you can find here so this about providing something for everyone.

"A lot of people comment about the wildlife when they visit so we wanted to make this side of what we offer much more prominent."

The guide was put together by the centre's intern, Maddie Bunn who was on a placement from Reading University.

She completed all the writing and research and liaised with the designer to finalise the look of the pamphlet before arranging for it to be printed.

Ms Bunn said: "It was a really amazing experience and made me much more confident about my career choices when I graduate next year."

The guide, which was part-funded by the Didcot Chamber of Commerce, will now be available for a suggested 20p donation from the centre when it is open.

Ms Middleton added: "This is something we have been intending to do for a while and when Maddie joined us, we thought it was the perfect project for her.

"We felt that if you give something away for nothing then people tend to forget about it at the bottom of their bag.

"So we're asking for a small donation in the hope that if they make an effort to pay a small sum, then they are more likely to use it."