That manically melodic call of the songbird is a rare sound in the UK nowadays, however not at Maple Farm. Back in 2020, a single bird could be heard at this hidden place in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from multiple areas,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A band of volunteers were staying overnight at the site, but the nightingales were so noisy, “we stayed awake all night,” says an engagement lead. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never touched a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Ecological Restoration Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by definition a slow process, but at this site at Maple Farm, after only four years, the results are already evident, and noticeable. The land previously served as a sanctuary for equines. Now it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ mission: to accelerate habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the world, and to engage young people (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often denied access to, and a environmental emergency they are often powerless to prevent. Climate change persists, tree clearing eliminates natural habitats, and another international meeting ends with a frustrating outcome in abroad – so who could blame the younger generation for wishing to act independently?
Our project was based on the belief that there were people willing to allow a collection of youthful amateurs on to their land
“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable ecologically that there’s ever been,” explains the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the highly invested in the problems, and have added the least to their creation, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a result.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Now, the group is expanding across the United Kingdom – and Maple Farm started it all, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and where we created our community,” explains a founding member, as she offers a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she says, as we move through overgrown meadows featuring low scrub, surrounded by forest. “The key visible change is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the warmer months, they donned protective gear and eradicated significant quantities of invasive plants, an non-native plant that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve established many of hedgerows,” says Easton. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve reduced a large part of grazing pressure and noticed what’s come up.”
Underbrush and natural fences are a ideal songbird environment, she says, although now they’re cutting back some of the thorny plants to develop a more diversity of environments and to link up different sections of the land. New trees will take considerably longer to grow, but saplings from the adjacent woodland are already growing in the meadows; the team have been placing guards to protect them from wildlife.
Animals Reappears in Droves
There's more than the nightingales – animals is returning in abundance. This year they’ve spotted grass snakes, creatures, nocturnal mammals and invertebrates, explains a team member, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (such as a cover over a small hollow in the earth). “You discover reptiles and wildlife residing under there, but it’s likely a somewhat chilly for them now.” Wild beehives, constructed from empty sections of wood and buzzing with insects, are strapped to some of the plants. The lack of animals has provided small creatures opportunity to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they came to this summer, comments Bennett, “I’d not ever encountered so numerous butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were saying, ‘What is going on?’”
Origins of the Movement
The original participants – Noah, Durant, Molly and two others – formed as students, studying or having an concern in environmental science. In the recent past, the climate experts was forecasting that the safe limit of 1.5C of climate change was looking out of reach, a prominent figure was spearheading the youth protests for climate movement, and campaigner Clover Hogan was discussing young people feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the period of the author's publication, about nature recovery, on how the authors revitalized the Knepp Estate from a failing farm into a flourishing natural habitat. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the function for young people?” says Easton. “So we created a online presence and contacted loads of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners wanting to do something and you don’t have time?’”
Jack adds the account: “Our complete initiative was essentially based on the belief that there were people who were willing to permit a group of young amateurs on to their land indiscriminately, to make major choices that would impact land value
