The manically melodic song of the nightingale is a uncommon presence in England today, however not at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a single nightingale could be heard at this hidden location in rural Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from several zones,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A group of Youngwilders were camping out at the property, however the birds were so loud, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks a project coordinator. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert 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 care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Progresses at the Surrey Site
Nature recovery is by definition a gradual endeavor, but at this site at this property, after only several seasons, the results are already apparent, and audible. The farm used to be a retirement home for animals. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to speed up habitat revival, in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the planet, and to connect youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often powerless to halt. Global heating advances, tree clearing destroys wildlife homes, and another international meeting comes to a disappointing outcome in abroad – so what person could criticize the younger generation for wishing to take matters into their own hands?
Our project was premised on the idea that there were people ready to allow a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their property
“The younger generation is the best educated 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 problems, and have played the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to suffer the worst as a outcome.”
Change of the Property
Today, the group is growing across the UK – and this location started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and the place we created our network,” says another co-director, as she offers a overview of the 12-hectare property. “This used to be divided plots,” she comments, as we move through long grass featuring low scrub, hemmed by mature woodland. “The main visible difference is that we’ve removed all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like one area.” In the warmer months, they donned special clothing and eradicated large amounts of harmful weeds, an aggressive flora that can harm the flesh. “We’ve introduced many of bush lines,” says she. “But the key action is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve reduced a lot of animal feeding and observed what’s sprung up.”
Bushes and natural fences are a perfect nightingale habitat, she explains, but now they’re managing some of the wild growth to develop a greater variety of ecosystems and to connect different sections of the land. Young saplings will take a while to grow, but new growth from the nearby trees are already growing in the open areas; the group have been setting up barriers to safeguard them from wildlife.
Wildlife Reappears in Droves
There's more than the nightingales – animals is returning in abundance. Lately they’ve spotted grass snakes, creatures, flyers and bugs, explains a team member, as he raises one of their survey equipment (like a cover over a depression in the ground). “You get creatures and animals hiding under there, but it’s probably a somewhat chilly for them now.” Natural nests, built using carved pieces of timber and humming with wild bees, are fixed to some of the plants. The removal of livestock has allowed insects space to flourish in the meadows. When they came to this summer, comments the director, “I’d not ever encountered so many lepidoptera. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is going on?’”
Inception of the Project
The initial Youngwilders – Noah, Jack, Molly and more individuals – came together as learners, focusing on or expressing an interest in environmental science. In that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of global heating was appearing unachievable, the activist was spearheading the youth protests for eco-awareness, and advocate another voice was discussing the generation feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of the author's work, about nature recovery, on how the authors revitalized the Knepp Estate from a failing farm into a successful ecosystem. “We were super-inspired by the case study, but what could be the role for young people?” says Easton. “So we created a website and rang up many of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your property owners seeking to make changes and you lack capacity?’”
Jack continues the story: “Our whole initiative was fundamentally premised on the belief that there were landowners who were ready to permit a collection of youthful idiots on to their property freely, to decide on significant decisions that would impact land value
