Some observations on changes in the wildlife of Epping Forest since 1939
Woodland Change and Mammals
At that time the LNHS survey recorded Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus and Fallow Deer Dama
dama as "frequent" and commented, "Deer are regularly seen in flie main survey area ... sometimes
a dozen or more deer arc seen together". Cattle did not usually penetrate that far and arc not mentioned
in the Reports. The survey area was roughly in the centre of a block of woodland and thicket of
perhaps 200 hectares (500 acres), bisected by a grassy 'ride1.
The colonisation of Birch
By 1960 the open area of the plain was smaller, there were more brambles and rushes (Juncus
effusus, J. conglomeratus, J. sylvaticus), some Willow (Salix cinerea) had appeared and some well-
grown Crab-apple trees {Malus sylvestris). However, what was to become most striking was the
relatively sudden appearance of birch seedlings - less than five years old in 1963. They must have
germinated in the years 1957-60 (see Plates 10-12). By 1998 the area was a dense 30-40 feet high
birch copse. The manager of the Forest, the Corporation of London, has now felled these trees to
restore the grassland and the plain is open again (Plate 13).
But what is significant about the birch 'take-over'? A similar colonising of open areas could be seen
over the same period in other parts of the Forest, for example Ludgate Plain and to some extent
Almshouse Plain. In May 1944 a rather serious grass fire affected Peartree Plain, however no
colonising birch seedlings appeared then, even in those ideal conditions - although there was a
plentiful seed source in the immediate vicinity.
Changes and losses of grazing animals
In Epping Forest, Myxamatosis appeared in rabbits after 1956-7 and the Fallow Deer ceased to
regularly frequent the Chingford woods in 1961-2. The deer population was reduced drastically
during the 1960s throughout the Forest. I believe this was largely due to greater disturbance and
increased road casualties. A striking indication of the changed status of the Fallow Deer is given by
my note of a murky December afternoon in 1942 when just outside the survey area I saw the greatest
number I had ever seen together in the Forest. A herd of 44 docs and juveniles crossed Cuckoo
Brook into the Bury Wood. At that time, and until about 1960 the deer came down as far as Chingford
Plain (TQ398950) - where at night they damaged the golf course greens and nearby their autumn
rutting circles could be found in Bury Wood.
Until the late 1960s, as shown by the Conservator's official winter counts and by the work organised
by the late Dr Donald Chapman and Norma Chapman, the Forest population of Fallow Deer was
reasonably stable at about 70 animals. Today, there is evidence of only a small number of Fallow
Deer mostly frequenting only the northern third of the Forest, whilst a far greater number exist in the
countryside to the northwest of the Forest. The Muntjac Deer appeared in the Forest from the late
1960s onwards - the first record I have is November 1968 in Round Thicket. Now they are widespread
in the Forest wherever the woodland is reasonably thick.
Red and Grey Squirrels
In 1942 the survey records Red Squirrels Sciurus vulgarus and Grey Squirrels S. carolinensis as
present in approximately equal numbers, but my diaries of the time suggest that the Red was generally
more common in the Forest. I notice that I did not record when I saw Reds, only when I saw a Grey
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 18 (2001)