Trip reports
Morning Walk at Copped Hall Estate, Epping
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Copped Hall was a fine Georgian mansion until gutted by fire in 1917 and the burnt-out shell was simply left to rot. In 1995 Copped Hall Trust purchased the site and they are now in the process of restoring it to its former glory.
Information about the mansion and the Trust's work can be found on their website:
www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk/index.html
With Spring just around the corner, many birds were in song and a variety of common woodland birds could be heard as we walked through the woods and fields around the estate. A Nuthatch provided us with excellent views, near the main gates into Copped Hall, at the beginning of the walk and was still in the area when we returned later. Surprise of the day was a female Hooded Merganser, on a pond just north of the Hall - clearly a 'fence hopper' from some nearby wildfowl collection but nice to see nevertheless.
The site is very good for Fallow Deer, which were seen on several occasions during the walk, including a large herd of more than fifty animals.
A total of 33 Species were seen:-
Mallard, Hooded merganser, buzzard, kestrel, moorhen, black-headed gull, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, woodpigeon, collared dove, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, skylark, wren, dunnock, robin, blackbird, fieldfare, mistle thrush, goldcrest, long-tailed tit, coal tit, blue tit, great tit, nuthatch, treecreeper, magpie, jackdaw, carrion crow, starling, chaffinch, greenfinch and goldfinch.
Other wildlife:
Fallow Deer and Rabbit.
Many thanks to MIke for leading this walk at a new venue for the group.