That richly complex call of the songbird is a rare presence in Britain these days, but it's different at Maple Farm. Previously, a single nightingale could be heard at this secluded location in rural Surrey; lately, they were all around. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from several zones,” says Meg Cookson, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of Youngwilders were camping out at the location, however the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his hands before. He was crying.”
Ecological Restoration Speeds Up at This Location
Nature recovery is by nature a lengthy business, but here at Maple Farm, after only a short period, the outcomes are already evident, and audible. The property was once a sanctuary for animals. Currently it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate ecological restoration, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the planet, and to engage the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to prevent. Global heating continues, deforestation eliminates natural habitats, and yet another climate conference draws to a frustrating outcome in the host country – so who could fault youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
Our project was premised on the idea that there were individuals ready to allow a collection of youthful amateurs on to their estate
“The younger generation is the best educated ecologically that there’s previously,” says the Youngwilders’ co-director, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their origin, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a result.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Today, the group is growing across the UK – and the original site started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s our origin point, and where we built our connections,” explains Molly Easton, as she gives a walkthrough of the 12-hectare land. “This was previously six different fields,” she comments, as we move through tall vegetation dotted with shrubs, bordered by established trees. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, a significant length of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the summer, they wore protective gear and removed masses of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can burn the body. “We’ve planted loads of hedgerows,” notes she. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve removed a significant amount of grazing pressure and observed what’s emerged.”
Underbrush and natural fences are a ideal songbird home, she says, but now they’re trimming some of the wild growth to create a more diversity of habitats and to join separate areas of the property. New trees will take much more time to grow, but new growth from the adjacent oaks are already taking root in the meadows; the team have been placing protectors to protect them from wildlife.
Animals Returns in Abundance
In addition to the nightingales – wildlife is returning in droves. Recently they’ve spotted serpents, slowworms, flyers and insects, notes Noah Bennett, as he raises one of their survey equipment (like a mat over a depression in the ground). “You find snakes and animals residing under there, but it’s probably a somewhat chilly for them now.” Wild beehives, constructed from hollowed-out sections of timber and active with wild bees, are fixed to some of the plants. The absence of livestock has given small creatures room to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they visited this time, comments Bennett, “I’d not ever seen so countless lepidoptera. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The original Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and more individuals – formed as learners, focusing on or expressing an interest in ecology. In that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was forecasting that the target of 1.5C of global heating was appearing out of reach, Greta Thunberg was leading the youth protests for environmental action, and advocate Clover Hogan was addressing young people experiencing “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of the author's publication, Wilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the a nearby property from a struggling farm into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the example, but what could be the role for young people?” questions Molly. “So we developed a online presence and rang up numerous of wildlife trusts and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your property owners wanting to make changes and you lack capacity?’”
Jack explains the narrative: “Our entire project was essentially based on the idea that there were people who were prepared to allow a bunch of young idiots on to their property without strict rules, to make fairly massive choices that would impact land value
