Baddow & Galleywood

June 2021

Once again due to Covid restrictions this meeting was organised as a Zoom meeting as our Chairman Roy Brackley started by asking for some volunteers to come forward to take over the secretary job as Debbie was wanting to retire having completed her 3 years on the committee doing a grand job. Also Maggie would like contributions for her next newsletter, having just e-mailed the Summer one out to all our members. Well done Maggie.

As there were no other group announcements Roy then introduced our speaker Peter Warne whose topic was ‘The Wildlife in Epping Forest’. The age of the forest and the range of wild habitats it contains makes it a former Royal Forest. Peter retired from his work as a Biologist in 2010 and as a keen photographer was invited to monitor the wildlife of the 25 acre gardens of Copped Hall and the surrounding woods and fields. A couple of his photos have appeared in successive years in the touring exhibition of The British Wildlife Photography Awards.

Peter started his journey through Epping Forest at Connaught Water which is often frozen over in the winter, but being such a big lake will still have some running water and muddy banks for the birds who visit. Black headed gulls (whose heads turn white in the summer), Common Gulls, Goosanders and even Kingfishers are around in the winter and early spring looking for fish in the shallow waters. Photos of the mandarin ducks he showed us were wonderful and also the photo of a special Heron whose plumage was amazing. Other birds such as Moorhens, Coots and Great Crested Grebes also visit these waters and in the summer evenings one can often hear the South African Fruit Bats in the trees.

The second place Peter took us to was the Wake Valley pond which is surrounded by Forest trees and the wildlife organisation has reintroduced Dragonflies and Damsel Flies into the area after near extinction a few years ago.

The third area Peter took us to was the northern half of Epping Forest which is the area to visit in the Autumn as it is full of Oak and Beech trees, which are at their best colours in October and November. That is the time when the Fungi emerge and grow in undisturbed areas at the bottom of these trees. The Trees and Fungi help each other, the trees need minerals from the Fungi and the Fungi get sugars from the tree roots. The fungi also break down the diseased tree roots. As Peter said there are a few edible Fungi but most are poisonous even if they look good and a few are deadly. Although slugs love Fungi and chew at the stems and then hide inside.

The last place Peter took us to was Copped Hall which has 4 acres of walled garden and many fields and wood around it. Many birds frequent this area, especially Owls and also Buzzards, Red Kites and Kestrels breed in the surrounding old trees. Also the surrounding fields are full of Hares chasing around and at certain times of the year the wild flowers, especially the bluebells a wonderful site. Foxes, Stoats and Weasels are also found locally and further afield many Deer can be heard jousting and bellowing to retain their territory in the forest.

A few years ago our u3a had a coach trip to Copped Hall and maybe after this enthralling presentation by Peter someone will offer to do another one once current restrictions have been lifted.