The manically melodic song of the nightingale is a rare sound in the UK today, but not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a lone nightingale could be heard at this secluded location in rural Surrey; lately, they were all around. “We were hearing them calling all night, from five different territories,” notes one ecologist, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of volunteers were residing temporarily at the location, yet the birds were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” comments an engagement lead. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An specialist from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his hands before. He was teary.”
Ecological Restoration Accelerates at This Location
Rewilding is by its very essence a gradual process, but at this site at this property, after only a short period, the results are already visible, and hearable. The property was once a sanctuary for horses. Today it’s a example for the youth-led mission: to hasten habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor nations in the world, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often excluded from, and a global warming issue they are often powerless to stop. Rising temperatures continues, habitat loss eliminates natural habitats, and another climate conference ends with a disappointing outcome in the host country – so who could criticize the younger generation for choosing to initiate change themselves?
Our initiative was based on the notion that there were individuals ready to allow a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their land
“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable environmentally that there’s ever been,” states the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the issues, and have played the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a result.”
Revitalization of the Site
Now, the organisation is taking root across the Britain – and Maple Farm was the beginning, in all respects. “It’s our origin point, and the place we established our community,” explains a founding member, as she provides a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This was previously multiple separate areas,” she says, as we move through tall vegetation filled with low scrub, hemmed by established trees. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like a single environment.” In the summer, they wore hazmat suits and removed large amounts of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can harm the skin. “We’ve established loads of hedgerows,” says Easton. “But the key action is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve removed a large part of animal feeding and seen what’s sprung up.”
Bushes and shrub lines are a ideal nightingale home, she comments, however now they’re managing some of the thorny plants to create a more range of ecosystems and to link up two parts of the property. New trees will take much more time to take root, but young trees from the surrounding oaks are already growing in the meadows; the team have been installing barriers to shield them from wildlife.
Animals Comes Back in Droves
There's more than the songbirds – animals is reappearing in large numbers. This year they’ve observed grass snakes, legless lizards, flyers and insects, says a team member, as he lifts up one of their reptile mats (like a cover over a small hollow in the ground). “You get creatures and things residing under there, but it’s likely a somewhat chilly for them now.” Natural homes, built using hollowed-out pieces of wood and buzzing with wild bees, are attached to some of the plants. The removal of grazing horses has provided small creatures room to flourish in the meadows. When they visited this time, says Bennett, “I’d not ever encountered so numerous butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The original Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and two others – formed as students, studying or sharing an concern in environmental science. In 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of global heating was seeming out of reach, Greta Thunberg was leading the school strikes for eco-awareness, and advocate Clover Hogan was talking about young people feeling “environmental stress”. It was also the era of the author's publication, Wilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a failing agricultural business into a thriving ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what was the role for young people?” asks Easton. “So we made a website and rang up loads of wildlife trusts and were asking, ‘Do you ever get your property owners wishing to do something and you are short on capacity?’”
Jack continues the story: “Our complete initiative was basically premised on the notion that there were individuals who were willing to allow a bunch of young idiots on to their land freely, to make fairly massive decisions that would affect land value
