Review of the Wildlife of Epping Forest 2001 - March 2002
This moss is also on the list of species for which there are national biodiversity plans because of its
international rarity. As one of the most important sites for this species in the UK, conservation
work at Epping Forest plays an important role in these national plans. As part of this process a more
detailed survey is planned in Epping Forest for March-April 2003.
Higher Plants
The most significant work on higher plants carried out in 2001 was the National Vegetation
Classification survey of Forest grasslands. In addition to mapping the general vegetation communities
the surveyors also discovered one or two unexpected species. Most significant of these was the
uncommon Birds-foot Ornithopus perpusillus, recorded in Wanstead Park. This is a plant of gravelly
heaths and acid grassland where there is bare ground and is restricted in distribution in the county.
Almshouse Plain has been one of the most rapidly improving grasslands in the Forest and is now
the most diverse damp pasture in the whole Forest. This is a remarkable recovery following the
clearance only 8 years ago of dense Birch Betula pendula and Aspen Populus tremula that had
overgrown the area in the 1980s. Another milestone in that recovery was the re-appearance of
Great Burnet Sanguisorba officinalis, feared extinct, at its only locality in the county of Essex.
Another recovering heathy grassland at the Furze Ground provided a good show of the heathland
specialist rush, the Sharp-flowered Rush Juncus acutiflorus indicating the improving diversity of
this area following much work by staff and the Epping Forest Centenary Trust charity volunteers.
Whitehall Plain, Chingford remains dominated by coarse grasses after a long period of decline, but
the hay-mowing seems to be having an impact with Sneezewort Achillea ptarmica recorded in
significant patches for the first time alongside the Grass Vetchling Lathyrus nissolia discovered a
few years ago.
Invertebrates
Dragonflies
2001 was a poor year for recording the special species of the Forest the Downy Emerald Cordulia
aenea at its usual ten ponds and numbers seen were relatively low as a result. However, the sighting
of two adults at Pizzle Pit south near Epping was a bonus as this is a pond with no known breeding
population. This area will be surveyed again in 2003 and 2004 to establish whether breeding has
occurred (Downy Emerald larvae take 2-3 years to reach adulthood).
Butterflies & Moths
Three butterfly transect walks (each between 1 - 2 km long), using national butterfly recording
methodology, were established for recording these insects across the Forest. The most exceptional
record for 2001 was of a Marbled White Melanargia galathea butterfly at Fairmead. This is a
grassland species unknown from the Forest. Its nearest sites are in north Hertfordshire where its
populations have been expanding and it has been spreading along the Thames in south Essex. In
2001 it was seen in a number of new places in Hertfordshire. However, this individual wanderer
was the probably from a colony along the Thames. It is hoped that its range expansion might
64
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)