That beautifully intricate call of the nightingale is a uncommon occurrence in England these days, yet it's different at Maple Farm. Previously, a single bird could be detected at this hidden place in the countryside of Surrey; recently, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them calling all night, from five different territories,” says one ecologist, chief environmental expert for the youth rewilding group. A band of participants were staying overnight at the site, yet the nightingales were so noisy, “we were unable to rest all night,” remarks an engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An specialist from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was teary.”
Habitat Revival Speeds Up at This Location
Rewilding is by nature a slow process, but at this site at Maple Farm, after just several seasons, the outcomes are already apparent, and noticeable. The land was once a retirement home for horses. Currently it’s a model for the youth-led goal: to speed up habitat revival, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the globe, and to link young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often denied access to, and a global warming issue they are often powerless to prevent. Climate change persists, deforestation destroys wildlife homes, and one more international meeting comes to a unsatisfactory outcome in the host country – so who could fault young people for choosing to act independently?
The initiative was founded on the notion that there were people willing to permit a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their property
“The youth is the best educated ecologically that there’s historically,” states the Youngwilders’ co-director, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer the greatest as a outcome.”
Change of the Property
Currently, the organisation is taking root across the United Kingdom – and Maple Farm was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our connections,” says a founding member, as she provides a overview of the 30-acre site. “This used to be six different fields,” she comments, as we move through long grass featuring shrubs, hemmed by mature woodland. “The primary visible change is that we’ve removed all the fencing, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a single landscape.” In the recent season, they used protective gear and eradicated masses of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can irritate the skin. “We’ve planted loads of bush lines,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just let it breathe for a short time. We’ve removed a large part of grazing pressure and seen what’s come up.”
Bushes and natural fences are a perfect nightingale environment, she explains, but now they’re cutting back some of the wild growth to create a more variety of ecosystems and to join different sections of the land. Young saplings will take much more time to grow, but new growth from the nearby trees are already taking root in the meadows; the team have been setting up guards to safeguard them from animals.
Nature Comes Back in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – wildlife is returning in droves. Recently they’ve observed grass snakes, creatures, bats and invertebrates, notes a team member, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (such as a doormat over a small hollow in the ground). “You find creatures and things residing under there, but it’s possibly a bit chilly for them now.” Organic nests, built using hollowed-out sections of tree trunk and buzzing with wild bees, are fixed to some of the woodland. The removal of livestock has given invertebrates space to flourish in the meadows. When they came to this summer, comments the director, “I’d not once encountered so countless butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”
Origins of the Project
The initial participants – Noah, Jack, Molly and more individuals – united as youth, studying or having an concern in environmental science. In 2019, the IPCC was indicating that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of climate change was appearing out of reach, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the youth protests for environmental action, and activist Clover Hogan was discussing youth feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the era of a writer's publication, Wilding, on how she and her husband transformed the a Sussex location from a unsuccessful dairy farm into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the function for the next generation?” asks Easton. “So we made a website and contacted many of conservation groups and were saying, ‘Do you ever get your landowners wanting to take action and you are short on capacity?’”
Jack explains the narrative: “Our complete project was essentially premised on the belief that there were individuals who were prepared to let a collection of young enthusiasts on to their property without strict rules, to decide on significant choices that would impact land value
