- In 2011 the North Devon Biosphere and a team of volunteers built a new otter holt near the River Torridge. The location is a closely guarded secret to protect the family of otters now living there.
- If you have good eyesight and know where to look you might see the rare, snail-loving glow-worm on the Tarka Trail. The male glow-worms can fly but the females can’t. The females crawl up the longer grass and glow to attract the flying males. They used to be fairly common, but loss of habitat has seen them decline.
- A clan of badgers were threatening to seriously undermine the Tarka Trail by tunnelling. To prevent further damage, an artificial sett was constructed and barriers installed underground. The badgers moved in, flooding through the tunnels was averted and the Trail was saved.
- The 31 mile shared-use section of the Trail has been mapped by ‘Google Street View’ so you can travel virtually along the trail anytime.
- There are three community orchards on the Tarka Trail which were planted by volunteers and local school children. Anyone can help themselves to an apple when passing.
- There are over 50 geocaches along or adjacent to the Tarka Trail. A geocache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook & pencil. Participants use a GPS or mobile device to seek the containers and after signing the log, the cache is placed back where the person found it. Larger caches can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of low value. Geocaching shares many aspects Dartmoor letterboxing and treasure hunting.
- Along the Tarka Trail shared-use section there are 21 discovery posts with information on the history and wildlife of the Trail and the places it passes through. Descriptive audio is downloaded to a mobile device and played when arriving at the numbered posts.
- Automated cycle and pedestrian sensors on the Tarka Trail counted over 1.4 million people in 2014.
- The first track was laid in January 1846 and the last train ran on 6th November 1982.
- James May and Oz Clarke ran their model railway trains along the Tarka Trail from Barnstaple to Bideford Station for the TV programme James May’s Toy Stories.
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