The manically melodic call of the songbird is a uncommon occurrence in the UK nowadays, yet not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a solitary nightingale could be detected at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; lately, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them calling all night, from five different territories,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A band of volunteers were residing temporarily at the location, but the birds were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says an engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the local conservation group came to help them capture and tag one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist states: “He’d never held a nightingale in his possession before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Accelerates at This Location
Nature recovery is by definition a gradual business, but here at Maple Farm, after only several seasons, the outcomes are already visible, and hearable. The land previously served as a retirement home for horses. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ mission: to hasten nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the globe, and to connect youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a global warming issue they are often unable to halt. Global heating advances, deforestation eliminates natural habitats, and yet another climate conference comes to a disappointing outcome in the host country – so who could blame young people for wishing to act independently?
Our project was premised on the idea that there were landowners willing to let a collection of young idiots on to their property
“The newer cohort is the best educated ecologically that there’s ever been,” states the Youngwilders’ founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the issues, and have added the minimal role to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a result.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Today, the organisation is growing across the UK – and this location planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our network,” explains Molly Easton, as she gives a walkthrough of the expansive property. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she comments, as we move through long grass dotted with shrubs, surrounded by forest. “The main visual transformation is that we’ve taken out all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a single landscape.” In the summer, they used special clothing and eradicated significant quantities of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can burn the body. “We’ve planted many of bush lines,” says the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a short time. We’ve removed a significant amount of livestock impact and observed what’s come up.”
Low scrub and shrub lines are a ideal nightingale home, she comments, although now they’re managing some of the thorny plants to establish a greater diversity of habitats and to join separate areas of the site. Young saplings will take considerably longer to establish, but new growth from the adjacent oaks are already growing in the fields; the crew have been setting up protectors to shield them from wildlife.
Nature Returns in Droves
It’s not just the songbirds – wildlife is reappearing in large numbers. Lately they’ve observed reptiles, legless lizards, bats and invertebrates, notes another co-director, as he raises one of their reptile mats (similar to a doormat over a indentation in the ground). “You get reptiles and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s probably a bit chilly for them now.” Wild homes, constructed from empty pieces of timber and buzzing with wild bees, are strapped to some of the trees. The absence of grazing horses has provided small creatures space to prosper in the meadows. When they came to this summer, states Bennett, “I’d not ever encountered so many lepidoptera. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is occurring?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The initial Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Molly and additional members – formed as students, focusing on or having an concern in nature. In the recent past, the climate experts was predicting that the safe limit of 1.5C of global heating was looking out of reach, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the youth protests for environmental action, and campaigner another voice was addressing youth suffering from “environmental stress”. It was also the period of Isabella Tree’s publication, about nature recovery, on how she and her husband transformed the a nearby property from a struggling farm into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what was the role for youth?” questions Molly. “So we developed a platform and rang up loads of wildlife trusts and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners seeking to make changes and you don’t have time?’”
Durant explains the narrative: “Our whole initiative was fundamentally premised on the belief that there were landowners who were ready to let a bunch of young idiots on to their property without strict rules, to take fairly massive decisions that would change land value
