The manically melodic melody of the nightingale is a uncommon occurrence in the UK these days, however not at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a single bird could be noticed at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; lately, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from five different territories,” explains one ecologist, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A group of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the location, yet the nightingales were so boisterous, “we stayed awake all night,” says an engagement lead. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so cool.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the nightingales the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never touched a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at This Location
Rewilding is by its very essence a slow endeavor, but here at Maple Farm, after only a short period, the outcomes are already visible, and audible. The land was once a retirement home for horses. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ mission: to hasten habitat revival, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the world, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to stop. Rising temperatures continues, tree clearing destroys ecosystems, and yet another Cop summit comes to a frustrating conclusion in Brazil – so what person could fault youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the notion that there were individuals willing to allow a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their estate
“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable environmentally that there’s historically,” says the group's co-director, one organizer. They are also “the highly invested in the challenges, and have played the smallest part to their causing, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a outcome.”
Revitalization of the Property
Now, the organisation is growing across the UK – and Maple Farm was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our network,” explains a founding member, as she gives a tour of the 30-acre land. “This was previously multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we stroll through long grass filled with shrubs, hemmed by forest. “The primary visible transformation is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, a significant length of it, to make it feel like one landscape.” In the warmer months, they wore hazmat suits and removed significant quantities of invasive plants, an non-native plant that can harm the flesh. “We’ve planted numerous of hedgerows,” says she. “But the primary focus is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a little bit. We’ve removed a lot of livestock impact and observed what’s come up.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a ideal songbird environment, she comments, however today they’re trimming some of the wild growth to develop a greater range of habitats and to join separate areas of the site. New trees will take a while to take root, but saplings from the surrounding oaks are already growing in the fields; the team have been installing barriers to safeguard them from animals.
Animals Comes Back in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – animals is coming back in large numbers. Recently they’ve seen serpents, legless lizards, bats and bugs, says Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (like a cover over a indentation in the earth). “You get snakes and things residing under there, but it’s probably a bit chilly for them now.” Wild homes, constructed from carved sections of wood and active with pollinators, are fixed to some of the plants. The lack of livestock has allowed small creatures room to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they visited this season, comments he, “I’d not ever observed so numerous insects. There were just swarms of them. We were saying, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The initial Youngwilders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and additional members – came together as learners, studying or having an concern in ecology. In 2019, the climate experts was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of global heating was seeming out of reach, a prominent figure was guiding the school strikes for eco-awareness, and campaigner Clover Hogan was addressing youth feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s work, about nature recovery, on how the authors changed the a nearby property from a failing dairy farm into a flourishing ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what was the part for young people?” questions Molly. “So we created a platform and called many of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders wishing to take action and you don’t have resources?’”
Jack adds the account: “Our whole initiative was essentially founded on the belief that there were people who were prepared to let a collection of young enthusiasts on to their land freely, to decide on significant decisions that would change land value
