That beautifully intricate melody of the songbird is a uncommon presence in England nowadays, yet not at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a single bird could be noticed at this hidden spot in rural Surrey; recently, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them calling all night, from several zones,” says one ecologist, chief environmental expert for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were staying overnight at the site, but the nightingales were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so cool.” An expert from the regional nature organization came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never held a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at Maple Farm
Rewilding is by definition a gradual process, but in this place at this property, after merely a short period, the changes are already apparent, and noticeable. The land used to be a retirement home for animals. Today it’s a model for the youth-led purpose: to speed up nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the planet, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to halt. Climate change persists, deforestation damages ecosystems, and yet another climate conference ends with a frustrating outcome in the host country – so what person could criticize young people for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the idea that there were landowners willing to let a bunch of young amateurs on to their estate
“The newer cohort is the best educated environmentally that there’s historically,” explains the group's founder, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the issues, and have added the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a result.”
Revitalization of the Landscape
Now, the organisation is expanding across the United Kingdom – and Maple Farm planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and where we established our network,” explains Molly Easton, as she provides a overview of the 12-hectare property. “This used to be divided plots,” she comments, as we move through overgrown meadows dotted with low scrub, hemmed by mature woodland. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve removed all the barriers, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a single environment.” In the summer, they donned special clothing and removed masses of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can harm the body. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” notes she. “But the primary focus is we’ve just let it breathe for a little bit. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of animal feeding and seen what’s emerged.”
Bushes and hedgerows are a excellent songbird environment, she comments, although currently they’re cutting back some of the brambles to establish a increased range of ecosystems and to join different sections of the site. Young saplings will take a while to take root, but new growth from the surrounding woodland are already taking root in the meadows; the team have been setting up barriers to safeguard them from animals.
Animals Reappears in Abundance
It’s not just the nightingales – animals is coming back in droves. This year they’ve seen grass snakes, slowworms, flyers and bugs, explains another co-director, as he raises one of their reptile mats (such as a cover over a indentation in the earth). “You discover creatures and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s probably a bit cool for them now.” Wild beehives, made from carved parts of tree trunk and buzzing with pollinators, are attached to some of the trees. The removal of grazing horses has given insects opportunity to thrive in the long grass. When they came to this summer, states Bennett, “I’d not once encountered so numerous insects. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Initiative
The first Youngwilders – Bennett, Jack, Easton and two others – formed as students, pursuing or sharing an interest in environmental science. In 2019, the climate experts was indicating that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of global heating was appearing impossible, Greta Thunberg was guiding the school strikes for environmental action, and campaigner another voice was discussing the generation experiencing “environmental stress”. It was also the period of Isabella Tree’s book, about nature recovery, on how the authors transformed the Knepp Estate from a failing dairy farm into a thriving ecosystem. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the role for youth?” questions Easton. “So we created a online presence and rang up loads of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you sometimes get your landowners wanting to make changes and you don’t have time?’”
Durant continues the story: “Our entire project was essentially founded on the notion that there were landowners who were ready to let a collection of young idiots on to their property indiscriminately, to make major actions that would impact land value
