That beautifully intricate call of the songbird is a uncommon occurrence in Britain nowadays, yet it's different at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a solitary bird could be heard at this hidden place in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from several zones,” says Meg Cookson, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A group of volunteers were camping out at the site, however the birds were so boisterous, “we were unable to rest all night,” says Layla Mapemba. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his possession before. He was teary.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at This Location
Ecological restoration is by its very essence a gradual process, but in this place at Maple Farm, after just several seasons, the results are already evident, and noticeable. The land previously served as a haven for equines. Currently it’s a model for the youth-led mission: to accelerate habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the planet, and to connect youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to prevent. Rising temperatures continues, deforestation eliminates ecosystems, and one more international meeting ends with a frustrating outcome in the host country – so what person could criticize youth for wishing to act independently?
Our organisation was founded on the idea that there were landowners willing to let a collection of youthful amateurs on to their estate
“The younger generation is the best educated environmentally that there’s historically,” says the Youngwilders’ founder, one organizer. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have added the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to be affected the worst as a consequence.”
Change of the Property
Now, the group is growing across the UK – and this location started it all, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and where we established our connections,” notes Molly Easton, as she provides a walkthrough of the 12-hectare property. “This was previously divided plots,” she comments, as we walk through long grass filled with bushes, surrounded by forest. “The key visible change is that we’ve eliminated all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the warmer months, they used protective gear and eradicated masses of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can irritate the body. “We’ve planted loads of bush lines,” says Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a little bit. We’ve removed a significant amount of livestock impact and observed what’s emerged.”
Bushes and natural fences are a perfect songbird home, she comments, although now they’re cutting back some of the brambles to establish a greater diversity of habitats and to connect different sections of the property. Fresh plantings will take a while to establish, but new growth from the nearby oaks are already growing in the meadows; the group have been installing guards to safeguard them from wildlife.
Nature Reappears in Large Numbers
In addition to the songbirds – wildlife is reappearing in droves. Lately they’ve spotted serpents, creatures, bats and insects, notes another co-director, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (like a mat over a depression in the earth). “You discover creatures and wildlife residing under there, but it’s likely a slightly cool for them now.” Wild homes, made from carved parts of tree trunk and humming with insects, are strapped to some of the trees. The removal of animals has provided insects space to thrive in the long grass. When they visited this season, says the director, “I’d not ever observed so many lepidoptera. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is going on?’”
Inception of the Initiative
The initial participants – Bennett, Durant, Molly and additional members – united as youth, pursuing or expressing an interest in nature. In 2019, the climate experts was indicating that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of warming was seeming out of reach, Greta Thunberg was leading the youth protests for environmental action, and campaigner another voice was addressing young people experiencing “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of Isabella Tree’s publication, about nature recovery, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful dairy farm into a thriving natural habitat. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what was the role for the next generation?” asks Easton. “So we developed a website and rang up many of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you ever get your landowners wishing to take action and you lack capacity?’”
Jack continues the account: “Our whole organisation was basically based on the idea that there were people who were willing to let a group of young idiots on to their property freely, to decide on fairly massive choices that would change land value
