REPORTS OF MEETINGS
225
delightful situation and several suggestions were made as to how the Club
might help them to appreciate and enjoy the many interesting plants and
birds which abound hereabouts.
Accompanied for the rest of the ramble by Mr. and Mrs. Hook, the
party then set off along the footpaths to Birch Hall. Willow-Warblers and
Chiffchaffs were now present in most of the suitable spots and were fre-
quently heard singing throughout the walk. At Birch Hall the party in-
spected the badger setts and were given an account of their inhabitants by
Miss Buxton who said that badgers first came to this spot about 1900 and
had been present ever since.
Some time was then spent in examining two birch logs which bore some
interesting Mycetozoa and, after having been very kindly invited by Miss
Buxton to pay a further visit to the Birch Hall grounds, the party then made
for the Forest where several logs provided suitable accommodation for the
usual picnic lunch. During the lunch break a male Brimstone butterfly
in good condition was taken and some mosses and the liverwort Cephalozia
biscuspidata were examined by members.
After lunch the walk was continued through Genesis Slade to Piercing
Hill. Here birds were numerous and a note which attracted particular
attention was at first thought to be an incomplete song of the Tree-Pipit
but was eventually traced to a Marsh-Tit or Willow-Tit. After making a
detour across the lower part of Theydon Golf Course a course was set north-
wards through Epping Thicks until on reaching the Green Ride it was decided
that sufficient time remained for a visit to the log near Ambersbury Banks
on which grows the moss Orthodontium gracile. During this part of the
ramble a short glimpse of some Fallow Deer which had been alarmed by
other people was obtained.
The Bell Inn was reached at 4.30 p.m. and here members sat down to a
welcome tea. After the meal Mr. Howard was elected to the chair and a
short formal meeting was held.
Sir Donald and Lady Vandepeer, of 29, Carroll Hill, Loughton, were
elected to membership and one other nomination was read for the first time.
The Chairman mentioned that some twenty-five flowers were included in
the day's list just handed to him. He was pleased to see that male and
female flowers of Hornbeam had been recorded, as flowers of this tree were
very scarce this year. Several members then spoke of the various observa-
tions which had been made during the ramble and the meeting closed about
5.30 p.m.
Ramble in the Ingatestone District (903rd Meeting)
SUNDAY, APRIL 24TH, 1949
The fourteen members who attended this meeting should have gathered
at Ongar Station at 11.15 a.m. but, owing to engineering work on the railway,
all arrived late and the party was not complete until an hour after the adver-
tised time. The weather, however, was perfect—warm sunshine being
tempered by a cool breeze which made walking very pleasant. The day
could have been called "Apple Blossom Sunday," for everywhere, in garden
and hedgerow alike, the apple trees were at the height of their beauty.
Arrangements had been made for the first few miles to be covered by car
so that soon after 12.30 p.m. the last arrivals had joined the party at Horse-
frithpark Farm and were ready to start the walk along the track to Parson's
Spring. Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were numerous along this road where
grew nettles in profusion and very soon a patch of rough bushy ground with
some convenient logs provided a pleasant spot for lunch. Whitethroats
sang in the bushes, a small pond much used by cattle provided some