The woodland flora of the Forest of Writtle and surrounding area
Highwood Common : TL626029 to TL640030. 37 acres, of which around six acres of secondary
woodland are all that remain. At one time it extended along the eastern boundary of Parson's
Spring, Barrow Wood, Coppice Spring and Ellis Spring from the Blackmore-Highwood road to
Chalk Hill.
2. The Writtle Park Springs
Parkponds Spring: TL647027. Size: 10 ha/25 acres. Planted some time between 1785 and 1841
although one small section predates this period. As its name suggests it was planted on the former
site of two large ponds. Part of it is now occupied by pheasant rearing pens. Large numbers of
Hybrid Black Poplar have been planted in this wood since the 1939-45 war. Two small clearings
support a thriving population of both Wood Spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides and Wood Small-
reed Calamagrostis epigejos, the former of which occurs nowhere else in the Forest.
Hockley Shaw: TL652027. Size: 10 ha/ 25 acres. A shoulder of mutton shaped wood that was
planted at the same time as the above although, here again, one small area predates this period. It
too is partly occupied by pheasant rearing pens. A stream on the western margin supports a varied
woodland flora of flowering plants and ferns, including a few Large Bitter-cress Cardamine amara
while there is a long established population of Garden Solomon's Seal Polygonatum x hybridum
on the southern edge. The robust, garden variety of Lily-of-the-Valley Convallaria majalis has
also been found here.
Writtle Park Wood; TL655030. Size; 16 ha/40 acres. Planted at the same time as the above two
springs. A stream along the northwest margin is particularly rich in ferns, including large numbers
of Lady Fera, while patches of Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta occur throughout the wood and
there is a fine display of Wood Anemone at the northern tip each spring. A small area of this wood
was coppiced for the first time in many years during 2001/02. Two scarce hoverflies have been
found here, both of which are usually associated with ancient woodland, namely Criorhina asilica
and C floccosa.
3. The Coptfold Hall Woods
Furness Wood: TL655027. Size: 10 ha/25 acres. Adjoins Writtle Park Wood to the southeast.
Extensive areas were clear felled and replanted following the 1987 hurricane. The resulting flora
included a good deal of Heath Groundsel - which is scarce in the Forest - and fine displays of multi-
coloured Foxgloves Digitalis purpurea.
Chatterbox Wood : TL655025. Size: 3 ha/8 acres. A small dry coppice with a poor ground flora,
a large area of which has been coppiced since the mid-1990s. It extends south-eastwards from the
southern edge of Furness Wood.
Bosmere Wood: TL661028. Size: 11 ha/28 acres. Oak woodland surrounding the site of the last
Coptfold Hall (a relatively modern building), now demolished. Extensively planted with conifers
in the past, not only European Larch, Douglas Fir and Scots Pine but also Norway Spruce Picea
abies, Corsican Pine Pinus nigra ssp. laricio and Lawson's Cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
while Rhododendron ponticum is commoner here than any other woodland in the Forest complex.
Beech, Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus and Common Lime have been planted alongside the
woodland drive leading to the Hall. A pond on the edge of this wood was the last recorded site for
Water Violet Hottonia palustris in the Forest but it was not rediscovered during the present survey.
Otherwise the flora is unremarkable.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)
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