BIRD-LIFE NEAR GILWELL PARK, SEWARDSTONE. 77
the far end, but as the field was ready for hay-making I could
not explore further. It is satisfactory to know that this species
appears to be holding its own in the district.
Bullfinch. One can generally find a bullfinch on Yardley
Hill and it seems clear to me that the species is increasing in
numbers. It may often be seen in Gilwell Lane, Green Lane,
Blackbush Plain, Fairmead Bottom and very often in my
garden.
Fieldfares and Redwing are frequent on Yardley Hill in
October and November, when the bushes yield hips and haws.
Mistle Thrushes are there during the whole year.
Common Whitethroats abound in the bushes. Garden-
warblers, Blackcaps and Nightingales are. among the
birds that nest on Yardley Hill.
The Fields above Sewardstone School.
Whinchat. This is the only species I have known to leave
the district during the past ten years. In August, 1922, Miss
Schinz (a Swiss ornithologist) and I watched a number of
whinchats flying and perching among the young hawthorn
bushes in the fields between Gilwell and Sewardstone. There
were about ten birds, most of them juveniles. Each subsequent
year these fields were the nesting site of at least two pairs of
whinchats, till in 1926 they were seen no more. The reason
was plain—the farmer had uprooted every thorn and bramble
bush in the fields.
This year, for many days in July, these fields were the
happy hunting ground of large numbers of Swallows and
Sand Martins. No doubt the attraction was the myriad
gnats and small flies from the River Lea and King George V.
Reservoir.
BIRDS OCCURRING IN THE FOREST.
We now come to the birds of Epping Forest proper. Many
of these have already been mentioned, but there remain some
that are more characteristic of the Forest than of other ecological
groups.
The Birds of High Beach.
On March 10th, 1925, during a spell of severe frost, the
largest flock of Bramblings I have ever seen "invaded" the
beeches of High Beach. They were feeding with chaffinches,