That richly complex song of the songbird is a rare presence in England these days, however not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single nightingale could be detected at this remote location in rural Surrey; this summer, they were all around. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from five different territories,” explains one ecologist, chief environmental expert for the Youngwilders. A band of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the property, however the birds were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks a project coordinator. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them capture and tag one of the birds the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his hands before. He was emotional.”
Ecological Restoration Accelerates at Maple Farm
Rewilding is by definition a slow business, but here at Maple Farm, after only a short period, the results are already visible, and audible. The property was once a retirement home for horses. Today it’s a showpiece for the youth-led purpose: to accelerate ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, and to connect young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to prevent. Rising temperatures advances, habitat loss destroys wildlife homes, and yet another international meeting ends with a disappointing conclusion in the host country – so what person could blame youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
Our project was premised on the belief that there were people prepared to permit a group of youthful idiots on to their property
“The younger generation is the best educated environmentally that there’s ever been,” explains the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the issues, and have added the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer the worst as a result.”
Change of the Landscape
Today, the organisation is expanding across the United Kingdom – and this location planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our community,” explains a founding member, as she gives a walkthrough of the expansive property. “This was previously six different fields,” she states, as we walk through tall vegetation featuring low scrub, bordered by forest. “The main visible difference is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, over a kilometer of it, to make it feel like a unified landscape.” In the summer, they donned protective gear and cleared masses of invasive plants, an invasive species that can harm the skin. “We’ve introduced numerous of natural barriers,” notes Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a large part of grazing pressure and observed what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and hedgerows are a excellent nightingale home, she says, but now they’re managing some of the brambles to develop a more range of ecosystems and to link up two parts of the site. New trees will take considerably longer to grow, but saplings from the surrounding trees are already establishing themselves in the fields; the team have been placing barriers to protect them from grazing deer.
Animals Returns in Droves
It’s not just the songbirds – fauna is returning in large numbers. This year they’ve seen reptiles, creatures, bats and insects, explains a team member, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (like a mat over a indentation in the earth). “You get creatures and animals residing under there, but it’s probably a somewhat cool for them now.” Organic nests, constructed from carved parts of wood and buzzing with pollinators, are strapped to some of the woodland. The lack of animals has allowed small creatures room to thrive in the meadows. When they visited this season, says Bennett, “I’d never observed so countless lepidoptera. There were just clouds of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Origins of the Movement
The first participants – Bennett, Jack, Molly and two others – united as youth, focusing on or expressing an interest in nature. In 2019, the IPCC was forecasting that the target of one and a half degrees of climate change was appearing impossible, the activist was leading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and campaigner Clover Hogan was addressing young people feeling “environmental stress”. It was also the period of a writer's work, Wilding, on how she and her husband transformed the a Sussex location from a unsuccessful agricultural business into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what was the role for youth?” questions Molly. “So we made a online presence and called many of environmental organizations and were asking, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders seeking to take action and you lack capacity?’”
Durant adds the account: “Our whole initiative was basically founded on the belief that there were individuals who were ready to let a group of youthful idiots on to their estate freely, to decide on significant actions that would impact land value
