274
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
from here is on private land just outside the forest boundary.
The Cuckoo Pits in Fairmead Bottom has a ruined Badger sett;
this can still be seen near the larger of the two ponds. The general
picture looks like one of mostly disused setts, but the Badgers
actually in the open forest seem to be holding their own and
continuing to breed. Where the young go to cannot be easily
answered, but some probably leave the forest for the open country.
There is, however, one very active sett in another part of the
forest at Hainault. This, near the Beehive Public House, is the
main sett and is very active at present. Another is on the
opposite side of this piece of forest near the golf course. A total
of five Badgers, probably a family, have been seen this year at
the two setts. There is also a small active sett in a hedgerow
about a mile from Hainault Forest on the Abridge road on the
left-hand side. Several other small woods dot the slope down to
the river Roding from this ridge and there are rumours of other
setts in this area which need investigating.
Just north of Epping Forest is a little wooded area around
Aimes Green and Epping Upland; here, there were some setts
at one time but they seem to have been mostly destroyed through
game preservation. East of Epping Forest is Ongar Park, with
an active sett in Gernon Bushes and a disused one in Ongar Park
Wood. There may well be other Badger earths around this area
which we do not know about, especially near Theydon Mount.
Below Ongar Park and eastward from Hainault Forest brings
us to Havering-atte-Bower, where there are two setts. One just
west of the church is active and Badgers were seen here in March
this year. The other, not always used, is in Bower Wood.
The Brentwood area has a number of setts including two in
Weald Park, one on Scrub Hill, Little Warley and one near Old
Thorndon Hall. Other areas include the vicinity of Brentwood
School and the nearby railway embankment. At Great Warley
two Badgers have been killed fairly recently on the road near
Holdens wood. Not far from Brentwood is Billericay, where the
Badger holds out in Norsey Wood. There are two setts, one
gassed and now disused, the other very active nearer the centre
of the wood. Working north to Ingatestone and Fryerning, we
find a fair amount of woodland which is mostly kept for game.
Fortunately, the keeper here does not object to Badgers and they
have a number of active setts in the area. There is an extensive
sett near Coptfold Hall, with three minor ones nearby which are
used at times. Mill Green has two large and active setts and there
are four more in High Woods to the north. West of Ingatestone
is Dudbrook, where there is a small sett in a wood not far from
the village. There must be others thereabouts as the place is
well wooded and has suitable soil.
The area from Harlow to Dunmow is also Badger country, the
part between Harlow and Hatfield Heath is undulating and has a
number of old sett references which need following up. At Hat-
field Broad Oak there are two active setts in Row wood and one
at Pierce Williams. Hatfield Forest, nearby, has Badgers and