1) that Nightjars preferred areas with small scattered trees, their nest scrapes usually being found
near a small bushy birch tree.
2) that the nest scrape was usually on bare ground and with other scattered bare ground patches
amongst the heather nearby.
Nightjars were once frequent summer breeding visitors to the Forest. Now much declined, they
would be hard put to find an area of suitable ground as described above in the Forest. Special attention
to Nightjar needs at Minsmere is thought to have trebled the numbers breeding on the reserve.
The Woodlark, another bird of heathland, has been of only sporadic occurrence in the Forest. It was
listed by Doubleday (Christy, 1890) but not by Buxton (1911). It did, however, have a brief period of
breeding in the Forest in the 1940s and 1950s. Typically it was reported breeding from Woodford Golf
Course. The course still has vestiges of a grass-heath flora. The Woodlark prefers to forage on very
open bare ground presumably conditions (plus I imagine a lack of human disturbance during wartime)
met with on the golf course.
Other heathland birds formerly found as uncommon and irregular breeding species in the Forest
include the Stonechat and Whinchat. Doubleday reported the Stonechat breeding in the Forest in the
19th century. It no longer does so. Its nearest breeding site is in rough grassland at Rainham Marsh.
The presence of the Yellow Wagtail in the Forest in the 19th century may have had a lot to do with its
association with the Forest cattle. Percy Lindley wrote in 1886:-
'On the lower moister ground especially near the pond sides .... is the Yellow Wagtail.... (it) loves
the society of cattle and follows them when grazing, to seize the insects which they disturb from the
grass.'
It may well have declined with the numbers of cattle and perhaps also increasing human disturbance
of its breeding areas.
A factor common to many birds found in the Forest is that they are summer visitors, and many of
the birds fly enormous distances from their wintering quarters in Africa to nest in the northern
temperate regions. External factors thus influence the arrival or non-arrival of many birds. Many
species have apparently been affected by prolonged drought in the south Saharan Sahel region. Other
external factors include excessive shooting, trapping and habitat destruction and also local pollution
in many countries. The Red-backed Shrike once nesting in numbers in the Forest (17 pairs in 1945)
now no longer does so and is indeed virtually extinct as a breeding species in Britain. The last few
breeding pairs were found mainly on southern heaths. A succession of cool, insect-impoverished
summers may have contributed to the contraction in range over western Europe: Britain is only on
the edge of this species' range. Other factors may, however, be involved, perhaps in the same way
that the Collared Dove has been able to expand and colonise vast new areas in a short period of time,
including Britain since 1957, so some formerly common species contract in range. Redpolls, too, have
increased greatly in numbers in the Forest, perhaps associated with the increase in the amount of Birch
seed now available to this species. Birch is now a very common tree, having invaded many of the
heathy plains in the absence of grazing pressure.
A feature of the Forest is the large numbers of visitors, particularly on summer weekends; perhaps
human disturbance may influence the continued absence of some formerly common species.
Some birds may nest in the Forest, but largely forage outside it. An example is the Rook nesting in
the Lower Forest. This species has declined greatly in Essex. There was a huge rookery with over
four hundred nests in Wanstead Park at the turn of the century. Rooks have apparently been declining,
not so much due to the loss of elms through Dutch Elm Disease as nesting sites, but probably the
magnitude of the destruction of permanent pasture in favour of cereal crops in recent decades, where
Rooks would forage. The Rooks at Wanstead declined almost certainly as a result of the increasing
urbanisation around the southern Forest. The decline in game-keeping practices in areas outside the
Forest, particularly in the case of birds of prey, must have had some influence on numbers of these
species in the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century, although paradoxically the Epping
Forest Bird Protection League founded by E. N. Buxton in 1895, specifically advocated the protection
of the Magpie, but named the Sparrowhawk as not requiring protection. I imagine despite inroads by
gamekeepers this hawk was then not uncommon. Magpies were very uncommon in the Epping Forest
area in the early 20th century. For some reason now they are abundant and changes in their behaviour
patterns have allowed them to successfully invade many urban gardens in their search for food, in
particular the nestlings of song birds in the spring.
Another profound influence on the avifauna of south-west Essex has been the construction of large
bodies of water in one form or another. There were few large areas of open water in this part of Essex
before 1853 when the first of the Lea Valley reservoirs was constructed. The Wanstead Park Basin
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