Hornchurch Country Park Circular Walk

On Saturday 15th March 2025, fifteen group members assembled at the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Ingrebourne Valley Visitor Centre at Hornchurch Country Park for Richard’s walk. Hold-ups on the roads, and a very crowded car-park led to us being a little late for our proposed 11am start.

The busy car park may well have been the result of a fine, bright and sunny day, but the fine-ness was tempered considerably by a cold east wind.

We set out heading more or less west from the visitor centre, which took us to the mainly open grassy area which would have been the site of the runways and main infrastructure of RAF Hornchurch, a very important airfield acting to protect London during World War 2.

The grassy area has a scattering of scrubby vegetation, and as walked towards one of these a large number of Starlings flew up and around, then re-settled back into the scrub. There were so many that it was almost a ‘murmuration’ of the birds, but their somewhat raucous calls were significantly more than a murmuring.

The COVID Pandemic MemorialWe began to head generally southward, and just before the vehicle track that impinges into parklands to serve Albyns Farm we paused at a memorial erected by Havering Borough Council to ’..all those who we have lost and all that we endured during the COVID Pandemic’. Near to the memorial were lots of benches - possibly the most I have ever seen so close together outside of a store that sells benches - each with messages of thanks to public bodies such as the health services who did so much during those times. A couple of the 15 of us made some use of one bench, but really it was too cold to be sitting around enjoying the others, but we could probably have had a bench each. And anyway, we were out for a walk.

The Group by Tit Lake (photo by Trevor)We passed Albyns Farm – a historic farmhouse dating back to the 16th-17th centuries – and reached Albyns Farm lake, locally known as Tit Lake, although I don’t know why. Here were the largest accumulation of different species of birds that we saw on the walk, consisting of many of the ‘usual suspects’ for such an area: ducks of a variety of species which – strangely – includes the Egyptian Geese, one of whom was walking round with its large offspring. They nest very early and often have chicks in January. Probably a leftover from when they used to live in Egypt, I suppose, although it’s very doubtful if any of our population can remember those times. (Yes – Egyptian Geese are ducks). There were of course Canada Geese, and probably a Mute Swan or so, but I had a stone in my shoe so didn’t pay much attention.

Richard and I walked on. For some reason the majority of the rest of the group didn’t. This has tended to be a common occurrence, I have noticed, with EFOG walks. It has often led to diminishing numbers on any given walk. And lost souls, at times.

A few of us by - or in - a Pill BoxIn drabs and dribs the group sort of caught up, and that re-assembly was made much easier when we stopped to look at one of the historic left-overs from the aerodrome days. This was in the pill-box shape of a pillbox, which was actually a gun-emplacement and had nothing to do with pills. This one was a lot more visible than it would have been intended to be by any advancing enemy, and some of us went inside to look around. There isn’t really much to look around at, except out of the gun-slots, and at least it didn’t stink. We looked at another type of gun emplacement during our walk - a rare example of a Tett Turret, the use of which Trev kindly demonstrated.

Trev demonstrating a Tett Turret - or somethingContinuing, and soon heading more or less north, with Louise and Claire ahead of Richard and I, and we ahead of everybody else, we trudged uphill. Pausing at the top for the others to catch up. Richard went ahead to halt Louise and Claire’s advance, and I looked back to where a cluster of EFOG’ers were clustered around another gun emplacement. I had failed to see what was different or special about this one, but there must have been something. Eventually I gave up waiting and walked on to where the advance party was chatting. Richard walked back to re-assemble the pack, and we all eventually turned right to cross the River Ingrebourne – heading east. All except Cathy and Fozie, though, who proceeded ahead on a more direct route back to the visitor centre.

A distant view of many of the group stalled at an information boardThe Ingrebourne River is an important tributary of the Thames, with its source near Brentwood and flowing – according to Wikipedia – 27 miles to the Thames. According to other sources it ranges from about 10 to 20 miles, so who knows? As it passes along the eastern edge of Hornchurch Country Park it has helped form the Ingrebourne Marshes, the largest fresh water reed bed in the London area and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). We did at least hear the loud call of a Cetti’s Warbler by these marshes, and the distant explosive sounds of bird scarers setting up the marauding Wood Pigeons.

We did something of a loop around part of the eastern side of the river, to come back to where we had parted from Fozie and Cathy, and made our way then to join them in the visitor centre. Teas, coffees, other drinks and food are available there, and most of us partook in something. When we had finished, a number of the group walked on to Suttons Lane where there is the RAF Hornchurch Heritage Centre. I didn’t join them on this extra expedition, electing to sit in the sunshine outside the visitor centre with Peter and Annick, Parviz, Fozie and Claire. The sun was warm, but once clouds obscured it that easterly breeze cooled things distinctly.

Thanks to Richard for leading the walk, and to Peter and Annick for giving me a lift back to Goodmayes Station. That saved me a potentially unpleasant journey through East Ham on a 101 bus.

Paul Ferris 17th March 2025

Back in September 2013 I led a group of EFOG members in the same area, and a write-up of that is available here: Hornchurch Country Park Walk September 2013

The main difference in those two walks was that this one was colder, and on that one we played on the exercise machines. Another walk was undertaken in May 2015, with a visit to Ingrebourne Hill for some compass instructions. That’s available here: Hornchurch Country Park Walk May 2015