What is the Wren Group's study area?
Epping Forest is an historic woodland lying in the west of the county of Essex on the ridge of high ground which separates the Lea Valley on the west from the Roding Valley on the east, and which extends southwards into what are now the London Boroughs of Redbridge, Newham and Waltham Forest.
Since 1975 members of the Wren Conservation Group have gathered records of the flora of the southern end of Epping Forest.
The Group has a commitment to biological recording in the Forest south of the Waterworks Corner roundabout on the North Circular Road on behalf of the Epping Forest Conservation Centre. For the purpose of biological recording, the Epping Forest Conservation Centre divides the forest into 38 areas, of which the four most southerly comprise the area of study of the Wren Conservation Group
The Epping Forest areas we have studied include Wanstead Park, Wanstead Flats, Bush Wood, Leyton Flats, Gilbert's Slade and the disused Redbridge Southern Sewage Works, which is now part of Epping Forest and also known as the Aldersbrook Exchange Land.
In addition we have taken an interest in other sites in the area. These include St Mary's Churchyard at Wanstead; the Friends Meeting House grounds in Bush Wood; the City of London Cemetery in Manor Park; the Alders Brook area between the City of London Cemetery and the River Roding, Manor Park Cemetery; and just outside of the Forest area, St Mary Magdelene's Churchyard nature reserve in East Ham.
Nowadays, the Group's efforts are much more concentrated in Wanstead Park, and to a certain extent Wanstead Flats and Bush Wood.
To find out more about these sites - their history, their character and the wildlife that has been found, you may visit Wanstead Wildlife at : www.wansteadwildlife.org.uk
