The beautifully intricate melody of the songbird is a rare sound in the UK today, however it's different at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a single bird could be detected at this hidden spot in the countryside of Surrey; recently, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them calling all night, from several zones,” notes one ecologist, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A group of Youngwilders were staying overnight at the property, yet the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks a project coordinator. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so amazing.” An specialist from the regional nature organization came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his care before. He was crying.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at Maple Farm
Rewilding is by definition a gradual process, but in this place at the farm, after only a short period, the outcomes are already visible, and audible. The farm used to be a sanctuary for horses. Currently it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate habitat revival, in one of the ecologically impoverished regions in the world, and to engage young people (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often excluded from, and a environmental emergency they are often ineffectual to prevent. Global heating persists, tree clearing damages ecosystems, and one more Cop summit ends with a disappointing conclusion in abroad – so what person could fault the younger generation for wishing to initiate change themselves?
The organisation was based on the notion that there were landowners ready to let a group of youthful idiots on to their land
“The youth is the most informed ecologically that there’s historically,” explains the Youngwilders’ co-director, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have added the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a result.”
Change of the Landscape
Today, the group is growing across the UK – and this location was the beginning, in multiple ways. “It’s our origin point, and where we built our connections,” explains Molly Easton, as she offers a walkthrough of the 12-hectare land. “This was previously divided plots,” she says, as we walk through overgrown meadows dotted with low scrub, bordered by established trees. “The primary noticeable transformation is that we’ve taken out all the enclosures, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the warmer months, they used special clothing and eradicated masses of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can harm the skin. “We’ve introduced loads of bush lines,” notes Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve eliminated a large part of animal feeding and seen what’s come up.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a excellent songbird home, she says, however today they’re cutting back some of the thorny plants to create a increased range of ecosystems and to join different sections of the property. Young saplings will take considerably longer to take root, but young trees from the adjacent trees are already taking root in the open areas; the team have been setting up guards to protect them from grazing deer.
Animals Returns in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – wildlife is reappearing in droves. This year they’ve observed grass snakes, slowworms, bats and insects, says a team member, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (such as a mat over a indentation in the earth). “You get reptiles and animals residing under there, but it’s likely a slightly chilly for them now.” Natural nests, constructed from empty parts of wood and buzzing with pollinators, are attached to some of the trees. The removal of livestock has provided small creatures opportunity to prosper in the meadows. When they explored this time, says the director, “I’d never encountered so numerous butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Project
The initial founders – Bennett, Jack, Easton and more individuals – united as learners, studying or sharing an concern in nature. In that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of climate change was seeming out of reach, Greta Thunberg was leading the school strikes for eco-awareness, and advocate a speaker was addressing the generation experiencing “environmental stress”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s publication, about nature recovery, on how the authors changed the Knepp Estate from a failing agricultural business into a successful natural habitat. “We were deeply influenced by the case study, but what was the role for young people?” questions Molly. “So we developed a online presence and called loads of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you ever get your estate holders wanting to make changes and you lack time?’”
Jack adds the narrative: “Our whole initiative was basically premised on the notion that there were people who were willing to permit a collection of young enthusiasts on to their estate freely, to make major decisions that would change land value
