Fig. 7 The fruit of the Corky-fruited Water Dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides) recently discovered
in Sheppard's Meadows (Bell Common) near Epping, one of only three sites in Essex (MH)
Some areas of neutral grassland with impeded drainage often support species such as Lady's Smock
(Cardamine pratensis), which is widespread in the Forest but often occurring as only a few plants. I
have seen it by North Farm, near Whipps Cross Pond. Fairmead Bottom and on some of the greens
such as Crabs, Woodford and Sewers. It is abundant at the latter site, making a fine sight in late spring.
Marsh thistle (Cirsium palustre) often occurs in similar situations, perhaps tolerating rather wetter
conditions.
One area of Forest neutral grassland at least has been recently deliberately re-seeded - the Bell
Common cut and cover tunnel was seeded with a curious mixture of cultivated and wild grasses and
other plants in 1984, among them a robust variety of Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), more usually
found on chalk, and Wild Carrot (Daucus carota), otherwise rare in the Forest (Adams, 1984).
The Conservators' policy of adding new areas to their jurisdiction has greatly added to the variety
of grassland in the Forest. The most recent additions are Warren Hill. Loughton (10 acres of now
rather scrub encroached grassland added in 1974), Yates Meadow (25 acres of flower rich meadow
and associated hedgerow added in 1983) and Sheppard's Meadow near Bell Common (14 acres of
meadow added to the Forest in 1991 as part of the mitigation package due to the construction of the
M25 'cut and cover' over Bell Common). Yates Meadow has a rich meadow flora including species
such as Pepper Saxifrage, Ox-eye Daisy and Meadow Barley. Sheppard's Meadows are the only
location for Quaking Grass (Briza media), found here by John Bratton in 1985, and also a rare
Umbellifer, the Corky-fruited Water Dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides) (Fig. 7). Known from just
three sites in Essex, it is a species deserving a very high conservation priority, but currently threatened at
the Epping site by scrub encroachment. These 50 acres of recently added meadow-land along with the
Forest's other grasslands, and together with those meadows in the nearby Roding Valley at Loughton, are
probably the most significant assemblage of such grassland left in Essex. Much has been destroyed in the
last 30 years. In Britain it is thought we have lost some 97% of our flower rich grasslands.
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