66 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Forest had spread northwards as far as the Parndon-Ongar district,
where they became quite common.
Although the information is most complete for the western part of the
county, a similar picture of decline and recovery also occurred in the
eastern area. By the time Grey Squirrels started to colonise permanently
the western part of Essex in the mid-1930s, the Red Squirrel had returned
to most of its former haunts, and was once again common throughout the
wooded parts of Essex, as it had been in Laver's time. The only areas not
inhabited were the suburban parts of London (surprisingly, Red Squirrels
only penetrated as far in as Wanstead Park despite the fact that they were
to be found in the suburbs of most of the larger towns of Essex), and the
coastal marshes of the Thames Estuary and the east coast (Map 1).
During the Second World War Red Squirrels were frequently seen
throughout the county, and were hardly considered worth recording,
although in Epping Forest Grey Squirrels had also been established since
1935. During this period of coexistence there were several reports of Red
and Grey Squirrels having been seen eating and sheltering together with-
out any signs of antagonism (Shorten 1954), although Benham (1953)
found that in Dorset evidence for tolerance and hostility between the two
species was fairly evenly balanced.
1945-1970 Red Squirrel Records
During this twenty-five-year period the Red Squirrel declined from
being an animal that was common throughout the county to one on the
verge of extinction. The rate of decline is shown on Map 1.
In the 1945 England and Wales Squirrel Survey Shorten (1946) surveyed
303 of the 332 parishes in Essex. Of these 303 parishes 126 (42 per cent) had
Red Squirrels (43 of these 126 parishes also held Grey Squirrels). Shorten
(1954), while discussing the 1945 survey, noted that Red Squirrels were
still to be found in most of the wooded parts of Essex.
However, during the post-war years Red Squirrels started to disappear
rapidly from the areas around Epping Forest. For example Red Squirrels
were last seen in Little Parndon in 1947, and the last positive record for
Wanstead Park was also in 1947, when a Red Squirrel was seen fighting
with a Grey. By 1950 in south-east Essex the only Red Squirrels to be
found were those in Epping Forest. Here both Red and Grey Squirrels
persisted together for several more years, although Shorten (1954), dis-
cussing the period 1945-1952, noted that Red Squirrels in Epping Forest
were outnumbered by Greys (but in Monk Wood at least there had been
a small increase in numbers of the native animal).
In Essex as a whole the distribution of the Red Squirrel remained largely
unchanged during the period 1945 to 1952 (Shorten 1953), although some
areas in central Essex recorded as negative for Red Squirrels in 1945 were
found to contain Red Squirrels in 1952.
The last Red Squirrel records for the main area of Epping Forest were
made in 1957, and Wheeler (1958) recorded that 'the remaining red
squirrels in the forest could be counted on the fingers of one hand'. There
are reliable reports of a small number of Red Squirrels persisting in the
southern extremity of Epping Forest in Hawk Wood for a year or two