Some observations on changes in the wildlife of Epping Forest since 1939
KEN HOY
"The Old Beerhouse", Green Street, Pleshey, nr. Chelmsford, CM3 1HT.
Introduction
I lived next to Epping Forest as a child and was an ardent bird-watcher by the time I was 15 in 1939.
My detailed diary notes, until I was called into the RAF in 1944, are an aid to my memory by
describing events that are now almost difficult to believe. Later, throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s
I was able to teach in the Forest on a daily basis. The following comments are based mainly on a
long memory and notebooks of the time. One's memory may be of value, even fairly accurate for the
striking events, but gradual change can go unnoticed even when that change is considerable.
I have clear memories of the late 1930s and early 40s when the Forest's heathy plains were literally
knee-deep in heather, so much so that it was difficult to walk across Long Running and Deer Shelter
Plain other than along the narrow deer paths. It was 'sleeping-out' to watch the Nightjars Caprimulgus
europaeus that brings back the clearest memories of that particular habitat - and the Tiger beetle
Cicindella campestris that appeared beside me when the sun came up.
But the change that has occurred in the woodland has been gradual. Early memories can only tell me
that maybe it seemed to be 'sunnier' then. The ancient pollards that were last lopped in the 1860s
and 70s, had by 1940 produced a canopy that was over 70 years old; but that was over 60 years ago!
No wonder I remember it being 'sunnier' in the woodland, it must have been, for the canopy is now
nearly twice as old.
Early survey work
The survey area
In the 1940s the Chingford Branch of the London Natural History Society for several years undertook
a regular survey of a part of the Forest (Council of the Chingford Branch of the LNHS 1942, 1944
& 1947). The survey site consisted of an area of woodland, an open clearing, some old pits and a
small patch of heathland. For those who know the Forest, it was Peartree Plain and the area around
the Cuckoo Pits (TQ402958). What has happened there is not untypical of other parts of the London
Clay areas of the Forest, although the Cuckoo Pits are in a small patch of glacial gravel.
Much of the woodland in the survey area was Hornbeam Carpinus betulus with some Pedunculate
Oak Quercus robur and an under-storey, dense in places, of Holly Ilex aquifolium and Bramble
Rubus fructicosns. In another rather more open part of the area bracken replaced the Holly and there
was less Bramble.
During the last 60 years I think the most noticeable and perhaps significant change in the survey area
has been the virtual disappearance of the clearing - Peartree Plain - a relatively open area that was
very wet and often water-logged in winter. When the survey started the plain contained several
species of grasses {Deschampsia caespitosa being dominant), sedges and rushes, but brambles,
briars, Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, and Blackthorn Prunus spinosa were slowly encroaching
from the edge of the Plain.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 18 (2001)
113