That richly complex song of the songbird is a rare occurrence in the UK nowadays, yet it's different at Maple Farm. Previously, a solitary bird could be noticed at this secluded place in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them calling all night, from several zones,” explains a lead scientist, top biologist for the Youngwilders. A band of participants were staying overnight at the site, but the nightingales were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” comments Layla Mapemba. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so amazing.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the birds the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never held a songbird in his possession before. He was crying.”
Habitat Revival Progresses at This Location
Rewilding is by definition a slow process, but in this place at this property, after just four years, the results are already visible, and audible. The property used to be a sanctuary for animals. Currently it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ mission: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the globe, and to link young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often unable to prevent. Rising temperatures advances, tree clearing eliminates wildlife homes, and one more climate conference comes to a frustrating conclusion in abroad – so who could criticize the younger generation for wishing to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the notion that there were people ready to let a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their land
“The youth is the most knowledgeable ecologically that there’s ever been,” explains the group's co-director, Jack Durant. They are also “the highly invested in the problems, and have contributed the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a result.”
Transformation of the Property
Today, the organisation is taking root across the Britain – and the original site started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our network,” says another co-director, as she gives a walkthrough of the 12-hectare property. “This was previously multiple separate areas,” she states, as we walk through tall vegetation dotted with low scrub, surrounded by established trees. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, a significant length of it, to create the impression like a unified area.” In the recent season, they used hazmat suits and eradicated significant quantities of invasive plants, an aggressive flora that can irritate the body. “We’ve planted numerous of hedgerows,” notes she. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a little bit. We’ve removed a significant amount of animal feeding and observed what’s sprung up.”
Low scrub and hedgerows are a perfect nightingale home, she explains, although today they’re trimming some of the wild growth to create a greater variety of habitats and to link up separate areas of the land. Fresh plantings will take considerably longer to establish, but young trees from the adjacent woodland are already growing in the meadows; the crew have been placing protectors to protect them from wildlife.
Wildlife Reappears in Droves
In addition to the nightingales – wildlife is returning in droves. Recently they’ve seen serpents, creatures, bats and invertebrates, explains a team member, as he lifts up one of their reptile mats (similar to a mat over a small hollow in the earth). “You find reptiles and things residing under there, but it’s possibly a bit cool for them now.” Natural nests, built using empty sections of wood and buzzing with wild bees, are fixed to some of the plants. The removal of animals has provided invertebrates space to thrive in the meadows. When they visited this season, states Bennett, “I’d never seen so numerous butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Movement
The initial Youngwilders – Bennett, Jack, Molly and more individuals – formed as learners, focusing on or having an passion in environmental science. In the recent past, the IPCC was forecasting that the target of one and a half degrees of climate change was appearing unachievable, a prominent figure was spearheading the school strikes for environmental action, and advocate Clover Hogan was talking about the generation suffering from “environmental stress”. It was also the period of Isabella Tree’s work, on rewilding, on how the authors changed the Knepp Estate from a struggling dairy farm into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the example, but what could be the role for young people?” says Molly. “So we created a platform and contacted many of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders wanting to do something and you lack resources?’”
Durant explains the narrative: “Our entire project was fundamentally founded on the idea that there were people who were willing to let a group of youthful idiots on to their property without strict rules, to decide on significant actions that would impact land value
