The richly complex call of the songbird is a rare occurrence in Britain today, yet not at Maple Farm. Previously, a lone bird could be noticed at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from five different territories,” says one ecologist, chief environmental expert for the Youngwilders. A band of volunteers were residing temporarily at the property, but the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert from the regional nature organization came to help them trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his hands before. He was crying.”
Ecological Restoration Progresses at This Location
Nature recovery is by definition a slow endeavor, but here at this property, after only a short period, the results are already visible, and noticeable. The land was once a sanctuary for equines. Today it’s a model for the youth-led goal: to hasten ecological restoration, in one of the ecologically impoverished regions in the globe, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often denied access to, and a environmental emergency they are often ineffectual to stop. Climate change persists, deforestation destroys wildlife homes, and yet another Cop summit comes to a disappointing end in Brazil – so who could blame the younger generation for choosing to act independently?
The initiative was based on the idea that there were landowners ready to allow a bunch of youthful idiots on to their estate
“The younger generation is the most informed in terms of nature that there’s ever been,” states the group's co-director, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the problems, and have contributed the smallest part to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a consequence.”
Change of the Landscape
Today, the group is expanding across the Britain – and this location was the beginning, in multiple ways. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our connections,” says a founding member, as she offers a tour of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she says, as we walk through long grass featuring low scrub, bordered by mature woodland. “The primary visible transformation is that we’ve removed all the enclosures, over a kilometer of it, to create the impression like a single environment.” In the recent season, they donned special clothing and removed significant quantities of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can irritate the skin. “We’ve introduced loads of bush lines,” explains Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a brief period. We’ve reduced a large part of grazing pressure and seen what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and shrub lines are a perfect songbird home, she comments, however currently they’re trimming some of the wild growth to establish a more variety of environments and to join different sections of the site. Fresh plantings will take much more time to establish, but new growth from the surrounding oaks are already taking root in the open areas; the team have been placing guards to protect them from wildlife.
Wildlife Returns in Large Numbers
It’s not just the songbirds – fauna is returning in large numbers. This year they’ve seen reptiles, slowworms, nocturnal mammals and insects, says a team member, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (similar to a cover over a indentation in the soil). “You find reptiles and animals residing under there, but it’s possibly a bit cool for them now.” Wild homes, constructed from carved pieces of timber and buzzing with wild bees, are attached to some of the trees. The lack of livestock has provided insects room to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they explored this time, says Bennett, “I’d not ever encountered so countless lepidoptera. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Project
The original founders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and additional members – united as students, studying or sharing an interest in environmental science. In that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was indicating that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of global heating was appearing out of reach, a prominent figure was guiding the school strikes for climate movement, and activist Clover Hogan was talking about youth feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s work, Wilding, on how she and her husband changed the a Sussex location from a struggling farm into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what could be the role for the next generation?” says Molly. “So we made a website and contacted loads of wildlife trusts and were saying, ‘Do you ever get your property owners wanting to make changes and you don’t have capacity?’”
Jack adds the story: “Our entire project was basically founded on the idea that there were people who were ready to permit a group of young amateurs on to their property without strict rules, to decide on significant decisions that would affect land value
