That beautifully intricate call of the songbird is a scarce presence in Britain today, yet not at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a solitary bird could be heard at this secluded location in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them singing all night, from five different territories,” explains a lead scientist, top biologist for the eco-activist organization. A group of participants were residing temporarily at the location, however the birds were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” comments a project coordinator. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the songbirds the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never held a nightingale in his hands before. He was emotional.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by definition a slow endeavor, but here at the farm, after just a short period, the results are already evident, and audible. The land used to be a haven for horses. Currently it’s a showpiece for the youth-led mission: to hasten nature recovery, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the planet, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to prevent. Climate change advances, habitat loss destroys ecosystems, and one more international meeting comes to a unsatisfactory end in the host country – so what person could fault young people for choosing to act independently?
Our organisation was premised on the notion that there were landowners willing to permit a collection of young amateurs on to their property
“The youth is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s historically,” says the group's leader, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a result.”
Transformation of the Property
Currently, the initiative is taking root across the United Kingdom – and this location started it all, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and the place we established our network,” says a founding member, as she provides a tour of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we walk through tall vegetation dotted with low scrub, bordered by forest. “The key noticeable transformation is that we’ve removed all the enclosures, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like one environment.” In the warmer months, they wore protective gear and removed masses of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can harm the body. “We’ve established many of hedgerows,” explains the director. “But the key action is we’ve just let it breathe for a little bit. We’ve eliminated a lot of grazing pressure and noticed what’s emerged.”
Bushes and natural fences are a perfect songbird environment, she says, but now they’re cutting back some of the brambles to create a increased diversity of environments and to connect separate areas of the property. Fresh plantings will take considerably longer to establish, but new growth from the nearby trees are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the crew have been setting up protectors to shield them from wildlife.
Nature Comes Back in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – wildlife is reappearing in abundance. Lately they’ve seen grass snakes, creatures, flyers and insects, notes another co-director, as he raises one of their monitoring tools (such as a doormat over a small hollow in the earth). “You discover reptiles and wildlife hiding under there, but it’s likely a bit cool for them now.” Natural nests, made from carved parts of tree trunk and active with wild bees, are fixed to some of the plants. The absence of animals has allowed small creatures opportunity to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they came to this time, states Bennett, “I’d never observed so countless insects. There were just masses of them. We were like, ‘What is occurring?’”
Origins of the Project
The original Youngwilders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and two others – formed as youth, pursuing or sharing an concern in environmental science. In 2019, the IPCC was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of global heating was seeming out of reach, Greta Thunberg was leading the demonstrations for environmental action, and advocate a speaker was discussing young people experiencing “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of Isabella Tree’s book, about nature recovery, on how she and her husband revitalized the a nearby property from a struggling farm into a flourishing natural habitat. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what could be the role for youth?” says Easton. “So we developed a online presence and contacted numerous of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders seeking to do something and you lack resources?’”
Jack continues the story: “Our whole organisation was basically premised on the notion that there were landowners who were ready to permit a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their land freely, to take significant actions that would change land value
