Flats (Plant, 1978). It is possible that the decline of the yellow wagtail
(Motacilla flava), already noted by Buxton (1898), was associated with the
falling numbers of cattle grazing the Forest, but exactly where in the area did
Buxton and the earlier observers record the species? It seems unlikely that the
drier pastures of the Forest ever represented the optimum habitat for the yellow
wagtail (Smith, 1950) and that its main strongholds were the water meadows
and marshy ground along the valleys of the Lea and Roding, a preference still
reflected in its distribution in the area today (Montier, 1977).
The redpoll (Acanthis flamma) is a species that has both changed its status
and increased in numbers in the area. In Doubleday's time it was known as a
winter visitor; since then it has become a resident, and now breeds in some
numbers. Since 1950 it has increased throughout Britain (Parslow, 1973). It
seems that one factor responsible for this spread is a change in the bird's
feeding habit, enabling it to exploit a wider range of food resources (David,
1977).
If any two bird species could be considered characteristic of the Forest,
they are the redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), with its preference for old
woodland, and the hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), which was first
established to breed in this country by Doubleday in 1831. The records of recent
years suggest that the redstart numbers have declined in the Forest, but there
has been no marked change in the availability of nest-sites in old pollarded
trees; the species has long been noted for its population fluctuations and the last
decade has seen a general fall in numbers across southern England. It now
seems likely that the hawfinch did not breed in Britain until shortly after 1800,
in which case the Epping Forest colony would have been one of the first to be
established. Local fluctuations in hawfinch populations are well known, but the
species has been extending its range northwards and eastwards in Britain since
about 1930 (Parslow, 1973). The small numbers of sightings in the Forest in
recent years have been taken to suggest a fall in numbers, but they may equally
reflect the elusive character of the birds.
It is difficult to determine whether the activities of bird-catchers in the
latter part of the nineteenth century had any major impact on small song-bird
populations. Buxton (1898) records that large numbers of goldfinches (Car-
duelis carduelis) were taken on Wanstead Flats, together with linnets (Acanthis
cannabina) and greenfinches (Carduelis chloris), whilst nightingales and
chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) were trapped at Buckhurst Hill and Woodford
Green. Despite the 1878 Epping Forest Act and the Wild Birds Protection Acts,
the trade lingered into the early years of the twentieth century and as late as
1912 there was evidence of organised bird-catching on the Forest (Sheail, 1976).
These activities may be reflected in the low status of goldfinches, greenfinches
and linnets from 1916 to 1923, although chaffinches and nightingales were
considered to be relatively common during the same period.
Even common species of woodland birds can fluctuate enormously in
numbers (Simms, 1971). Thanks to the British Trust for Ornithology's Com-
mon Birds Census, it is now possible to quantify these fluctuations over the
country as a whole. Set against these figures (Batten and Marchant, 1977), the
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