That manically melodic song of the songbird is a uncommon sound in the UK today, yet it's different at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a single nightingale could be heard at this hidden place in rural Surrey; lately, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from five different territories,” notes one ecologist, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were camping out at the property, however the birds were so loud, “we stayed awake all night,” comments a project coordinator. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so cool.” An professional from the local conservation group came to help them capture and tag one of the birds the next morning, the ecologist remembers: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his hands before. He was emotional.”
Habitat Revival Progresses at Maple Farm
Nature recovery is by its very essence a slow process, but in this place at this property, after only a short period, the outcomes are already apparent, and noticeable. The land was once a retirement home for equines. Currently it’s a model for the youth-led goal: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the world, and to link young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to halt. Rising temperatures persists, tree clearing damages natural habitats, and another international meeting ends with a unsatisfactory conclusion in Brazil – so what person could criticize young people for wishing to act independently?
The organisation was founded on the notion that there were individuals willing to let a group of young idiots on to their property
“The youth is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s ever been,” states the group's leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the deeply concerned in the problems, and have added the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a consequence.”
Transformation of the Property
Today, the organisation is taking root across the Britain – and the original site started it all, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and the place we built our connections,” says another co-director, as she offers a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This used to be divided plots,” she comments, as we move through overgrown meadows filled with bushes, bordered by forest. “The main visual difference is that we’ve removed all the barriers, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like a unified environment.” In the warmer months, they donned hazmat suits and eradicated significant quantities of invasive plants, an invasive species that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve introduced loads of hedgerows,” explains the director. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a large part of livestock impact and noticed what’s sprung up.”
Bushes and shrub lines are a excellent songbird habitat, she says, although now they’re managing some of the wild growth to establish a greater diversity of habitats and to connect separate areas of the property. Young saplings will take a while to establish, but saplings from the adjacent woodland are already growing in the fields; the team have been setting up protectors to safeguard them from grazing deer.
Nature Comes Back in Droves
In addition to the nightingales – fauna is returning in abundance. Recently they’ve observed serpents, legless lizards, bats and bugs, notes another co-director, as he raises one of their reptile mats (such as a cover over a small hollow in the earth). “You discover snakes and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s likely a bit chilly for them now.” Natural homes, built using hollowed-out sections of timber and buzzing with wild bees, are strapped to some of the plants. The absence of grazing horses has provided insects room to thrive in the overgrown areas. When they visited this time, says he, “I’d not ever encountered so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”
Origins of the Project
The first Youngwilders – Bennett, Durant, Molly and two others – formed as students, studying or expressing an passion in nature. In 2019, the climate experts was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of warming was appearing out of reach, Greta Thunberg was guiding the demonstrations for environmental action, and campaigner another voice was talking about the generation feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s publication, about nature recovery, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful farm into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the role for young people?” says Molly. “So we created a online presence and rang up many of wildlife trusts and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners wanting to make changes and you are short on resources?’”
Jack explains the narrative: “Our complete organisation was fundamentally founded on the belief that there were individuals who were prepared to permit a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their property without strict rules, to decide on significant choices that would impact land value
