That beautifully intricate song of the songbird is a scarce occurrence in the UK today, but it's different at Maple Farm. Back in 2020, a single bird could be heard at this secluded place in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from multiple areas,” notes one ecologist, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A group of volunteers were residing temporarily at the location, but the nightingales were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says Layla Mapemba. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An specialist from the local conservation group came to help them net and ring one of the nightingales the next morning, Cookson remembers: “He’d never held a songbird in his care before. He was crying.”
Rewilding Progresses at Maple Farm
Rewilding is by nature a gradual business, but here at this property, after merely several seasons, the results are already evident, and noticeable. The property previously served as a retirement home for animals. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to speed up nature recovery, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the world, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to halt. Rising temperatures continues, habitat loss eliminates wildlife homes, and yet another international meeting comes to a unsatisfactory outcome in abroad – so what person could criticize young people for choosing to act independently?
The project was founded on the idea that there were landowners prepared to allow a group of young amateurs on to their estate
“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable in terms of nature that there’s ever been,” states the Youngwilders’ leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the problems, and have contributed the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer the worst as a result.”
Change of the Property
Today, the initiative is taking root across the United Kingdom – and Maple Farm started it all, in all respects. “It’s our origin point, and where we established our community,” explains another co-director, as she gives a walkthrough of the expansive property. “This was previously six different fields,” she comments, as we move through long grass filled with low scrub, hemmed by established trees. “The main noticeable transformation is that we’ve removed all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a unified landscape.” In the recent season, they donned protective gear and eradicated significant quantities of invasive plants, an aggressive flora that can irritate the body. “We’ve introduced loads of hedgerows,” notes Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve reduced a large part of animal feeding and observed what’s sprung up.”
Bushes and hedgerows are a perfect nightingale home, she comments, although currently they’re managing some of the brambles to establish a greater diversity of environments and to join two parts of the land. New trees will take a while to establish, but saplings from the surrounding trees are already growing in the open areas; the team have been setting up guards to shield them from wildlife.
Animals Reappears in Large Numbers
In addition to the nightingales – wildlife is returning in droves. This year they’ve spotted serpents, legless lizards, nocturnal mammals and insects, explains Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (similar to a doormat over a depression in the earth). “You discover creatures and things residing under there, but it’s probably a bit cool for them now.” Natural nests, constructed from carved parts of wood and buzzing with insects, are strapped to some of the plants. The removal of animals has provided invertebrates opportunity to thrive in the meadows. When they visited this summer, says Bennett, “I’d not once encountered so numerous butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is occurring?’”
Origins of the Project
The first participants – Bennett, Jack, Molly and more individuals – formed as students, pursuing or expressing an passion in ecology. In that year, the climate experts was indicating that the safe limit of 1.5C of global heating was appearing impossible, a prominent figure was leading the youth protests for environmental action, and activist Clover Hogan was talking about young people suffering from “environmental stress”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s publication, about nature recovery, on how the authors changed the Knepp Estate from a failing dairy farm into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what could be the function for youth?” questions Molly. “So we made a website and contacted many of wildlife trusts and were like, ‘Do you ever get your property owners wanting to do something and you are short on time?’”
Durant continues the narrative: “Our whole organisation was fundamentally based on the belief that there were people who were willing to let a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their property indiscriminately, to take significant actions that would impact land value
