That beautifully intricate melody of the nightingale is a scarce presence in the UK these days, but not at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a lone nightingale could be heard at this hidden spot in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them calling all night, from five different territories,” explains Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A team of volunteers were staying overnight at the site, but the birds were so boisterous, “we stayed awake 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 trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his hands before. He was teary.”
Rewilding Accelerates at Maple Farm
Rewilding is by nature a gradual process, but here at Maple Farm, after just a short period, the outcomes are already visible, and audible. The property was once a sanctuary for equines. Now it’s a showpiece for the youth-led mission: to hasten ecological restoration, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the planet, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often denied access to, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to halt. Climate change continues, tree clearing destroys ecosystems, and another international meeting comes to a frustrating outcome in the host country – so what person could blame youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the belief that there were people willing to let a collection of youthful idiots on to their land
“The newer cohort is the most informed in terms of nature that there’s ever been,” says the group's co-director, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the issues, and have contributed the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to be affected the worst as a consequence.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Currently, the initiative is expanding across the United Kingdom – and Maple Farm planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and where we built our connections,” notes Molly Easton, as she gives a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she says, as we stroll through long grass filled with shrubs, hemmed by forest. “The key visual transformation is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a single landscape.” In the summer, they wore hazmat suits and cleared masses of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can burn the skin. “We’ve established numerous of natural barriers,” notes the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of livestock impact and observed what’s sprung up.”
Bushes and natural fences are a excellent nightingale home, she comments, however today they’re cutting back some of the thorny plants to create a more diversity of ecosystems and to join different sections of the land. Young saplings will take a while to establish, but new growth from the surrounding woodland are already growing in the fields; the crew have been placing guards to safeguard them from animals.
Nature Reappears in Large Numbers
In addition to the songbirds – wildlife is coming back in abundance. Recently they’ve seen reptiles, legless lizards, flyers and invertebrates, notes another co-director, as he raises one of their survey equipment (such as a mat over a depression in the earth). “You find reptiles and animals hiding under there, but it’s possibly a somewhat chilly for them now.” Wild nests, constructed from empty pieces of wood and humming with insects, are attached to some of the trees. The absence of animals has allowed insects room to prosper in the long grass. When they visited this summer, comments the director, “I’d never encountered so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Initiative
The first Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Molly and more individuals – came together as students, focusing on or having an passion in ecology. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of climate change was seeming impossible, a prominent figure was spearheading the school strikes for eco-awareness, and advocate Clover Hogan was discussing youth feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the time of the author's book, Wilding, on how the authors transformed the a Sussex location from a struggling dairy farm into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what could be the role for young people?” questions Molly. “So we created a platform and called many of conservation groups and were saying, ‘Do you ever get your estate holders wishing to make changes and you are short on time?’”
Durant continues the narrative: “Our entire project was essentially based on the idea that there were individuals who were willing to permit a collection of young idiots on to their property freely, to take major actions that would impact land value
