It wasn’t all bad

Beachgoers at Durdle Door in Dorset last week saved a swimmer who had got into difficulty in choppy waters, by forming a human chain and pulling him to safety. Witnesses described noticing that the man was being dragged out to sea, before realising that he was waving to show that he was unable to get back to the shore. More than 20 people then held hands in a line to reach him. “Ultimately the public helped save that chap’s life,” said coastguard Matt Leat.

The tiny Somali elephant shrew, which had been lost to science for decades, has been rediscovered in Djibouti. New footage of the animal, which is about the size of a mouse but can run at speeds of nearly 20mph, was captured by researchers last year. There had been local sightings of the creature (which is not a shrew, but is related to the elephant), but there had been no scientific observations of a Somali elephant shrew since the early 1970s, leaving 39 preserved specimens in museums around the world as the only evidence of the species’ existence.

A model train enthusiast has saved a Welsh heritage line, by bequeathing it 70 valuable model trains in his will. Kenneth Abbott, who died earlier this year aged 89, left his collection of engines to the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, which opened in 1903 and which is known for its tight curves and steep gradients. It now runs as a tourist service, and had been struggling owing to the lockdown. But Abbott’s models raised £132,000 at auction, money which the line’s manager says will preserve it “for years to come”.