ENVIRONMENTAL change is an inevitable part of life, but it so often goes unnoticed until somebody suddenly pipes up and says: "Piercy End used to be called Railway Street once upon a time..."

And so it did: and there was indeed a railway at the bottom of Kirkby, long before the present bypass and roundabout existed. It had a large yard, and a road bridge over the rails into Ings Lane - both of which remain. Station House is also there, complete with platform, but to picture its original use (unless you are of a certain age), is to seek out old postcards, or period photographs of Kirkbymoorside railway station in its heyday.

Farther west, and following the course of the old railway line, it eventually passes beneath a favourite lane whose company I have enjoyed for many years and which has changed little. Take away the tarmac (plus the traffic above and below), replace with a dusty layer of roadstone and you are back to the beginnings of the 20th century, with minor changes only - except for the railway.

It's a short lane, starting at the north side of the A170's Welburn crossroads, rising up and over a non-functional railway bridge, then gently down to meet the ancient east-west route through Kirkdale, via ford and footbridge over Hodge Beck.

Not that the lane is technically short, for in truth it is the continuation of an old link road coming up from below Castle Howard through Slingsby and Ness. Around 1904, there would have certainly been differences at Welburn crossroads - the road surface for one, and the fact that the A170 followed its original path down and over Tilehouse Bridge; and, of course, it was nowhere as busy then as now, a century on.

The major upheaval in the history of this lane was the railway. I cannot recall it in operation, although I passed beneath one of its bridges crossing the main road east of Nawton many a time on childhood trips. The passenger line closed in 1953; freight in 1964. But during the early reign of George V, the steam trains, which once passed under the bridge on my favourite lane, were a lifeline to the community. At that time, one young lady from Pockley, called Lillie, regularly sent picture postcards to her sister Annie in Kirkby, stating that she would be arriving by 10.30am the very next day.

The lane would have been in total chaos from around 1870 on, due to the laying of the track, construction of the viaduct over Hodge Beck and the raising of the lane's level to meet the bridge at both sides. But a century later, all was quiet. By 1970, nature had taken over and, as small changes were made to the lane's environs, natural healing continued to smooth things over.

The iron road's sleepers came up years ago, and today, at each side of the railway bridge - ie, the top sheep fields to the east and a massive crop field to the west - all signs of the trackway have gone. Below the bridge, on the sheep field side, the track was once defined by parallel thorn bushes, removed in 1992. The arable side, looking towards Nawton and Beadlam, was for many years stained darkly after ploughing by remains of the ballast base showing up as a direct but uneven line.

The only evidence left to suggest that a railway once ran through it at all is the magnificent viaduct spanning Hodge Beck, the stone bridge at the top of the lane and a raised track base still intact leading east towards Starfits.

The edges of the lane, which rise gradually from the A170 to the railway bridge, are set with sycamore and ash. On its high, eastern banking flourishes a plant I've not found elsewhere in the wild - the goatsbeard. Half a dozen grow sturdily there each summer, flower, then produce large fluffy balls of seeds which rapidly disperse in the wind. On the western side of the lane, a short way up, a rabbit warren is well hidden by a low roof of thorns, while farther again, closer to the bridge, a magpie's domed nest of twigs was in use for several reasons, high in a tangle of trees.

In the early 70s, there were foxes about the lane. It was a pleasure to observe these graceful creatures at dusk, floating across the sheep fields, and, on one occasion, weaving in and out of a flock of ewes during the day. I watched them frequently in the spring of those years, when I was fit enough to endure hours of leaning against the cold concrete wall of the new bridge which bypassed Tilehouse, and spent large chunks of time on the sheep fields footpath, trying hard to merge into a straggly row of thorns above Hodge Beck.

For two or three years, I followed the progress of cubs in that vicinity, from their juvenile tomfoolery among the bluebell glades high on the beck bankings, to their later explorations of the trackway bushes below the old railway bridge. And at the back end of each of my earlier years in the district, I watched foxes reacting to another aspect of their lives, that of being hunted. Putting to good use an escape route beneath Tilehouse, for example - coming out of Welburn Park in a hurry up-dale to Skiplam, away from the booming encouragements of Lord Westbury to hounds following a Boxing Day meet at Kirkby.

Today's activities along this attractive lane sees small flocks of longtailed tits in the winter months, foraging through the dense hedge-tops, their incessant high-pitched calls giving them away. In spring, the lane's hedge-backs are thick with thrusting spears of cuckoo pint, to be followed in autumn by their glowing, but deadly, lollipop sticks of red-berried fruits.

And there is one hoary denizen along the lane which has stood in the same position for at least 200 years, and holds its golden foliage until the first few days of November - a majestic oak; ten times as high as a man, at a guess, and host to a multitude of wildlife forms throughout the year.

Holly trees close by the oak hardly seem to have altered in shape or size since first I saw them around 1965. And four sycamores in a line, a short distance down at the Kirkdale end of the lane, below the oak and a solitary ash, attract swallows by the score in late summer. They swoop beneath the sycamores' leafy canopies when the air is thunder, harvesting dancing clouds of insects by the beakful.

The non-functional railway bridge at the top of the lane still has its uses, as vantage point for followers of the Sinnington, and also a good place to be around show time, to view the colourful display of tents in Welburn Park. While all through the summer days, from the bridge top, one can wonder at the sheer volume of tourist traffic pounding along the bottom road, together with the overriding whine of interweaving motorcycles.

The top sheep fields of 2004 have become one long pasture, sided by a well-trodden footpath from the main road through to Kirkdale and vice versa. Perhaps due to its increased popularity, the foxes have got wise in recent years and moved to more secluded haunts around Hold Cauldron. But there again it could well be me - not looking hard enough, and less prepared nowadays to stand for hours in all kinds of weather - far happier watching wildlife during the harsher months of the year from the warmth and comfort of a car interior.

Updated: 10:24 Wednesday, February 25, 2004