That manically melodic song of the nightingale is a scarce presence in England nowadays, yet not at the Surrey site. Back in 2020, a lone bird could be detected at this hidden location in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from multiple areas,” explains Meg Cookson, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A band of volunteers were staying overnight at the location, however the birds were so boisterous, “we were unable to rest all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the songbirds the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was teary.”
Ecological Restoration Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by nature a gradual business, but at this site at the farm, after only a short period, the results are already evident, and noticeable. The land previously served as a retirement home for equines. Now it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ mission: to accelerate ecological restoration, in one of the ecologically impoverished nations in the planet, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often powerless to stop. Climate change advances, habitat loss destroys ecosystems, and yet another Cop summit draws to a unsatisfactory outcome in abroad – so what person could criticize the younger generation for choosing to initiate change themselves?
The project was founded on the belief that there were individuals ready to allow a collection of young enthusiasts on to their property
“The newer cohort is the most informed ecologically that there’s ever been,” states the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a consequence.”
Transformation of the Site
Today, the group is taking root across the United Kingdom – and Maple Farm started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and where we created our network,” notes another co-director, as she gives a tour of the 12-hectare property. “This was previously six different fields,” she comments, as we walk through long grass dotted with low scrub, surrounded by established trees. “The primary visible change is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one area.” In the warmer months, they wore hazmat suits and eradicated masses of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can harm the flesh. “We’ve introduced numerous of hedgerows,” says she. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve removed a significant amount of livestock impact and observed what’s emerged.”
Bushes and hedgerows are a ideal nightingale habitat, she says, but now they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to create a increased diversity of environments and to join separate areas of the site. New trees will take much more time to establish, but new growth from the nearby trees are already establishing themselves in the fields; the team have been setting up protectors to protect them from wildlife.
Animals Returns in Abundance
It’s not just the nightingales – animals is reappearing in abundance. Recently they’ve observed grass snakes, slowworms, flyers and insects, notes a team member, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (such as a doormat over a depression in the soil). “You find reptiles and things sheltering under there, but it’s probably a slightly chilly for them now.” Wild beehives, built using hollowed-out parts of tree trunk and active with insects, are fixed to some of the woodland. The absence of grazing horses has allowed small creatures room to thrive in the meadows. When they explored this time, comments he, “I’d not ever observed so numerous butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The first participants – Bennett, Jack, Easton and more individuals – formed as learners, focusing on or sharing an interest in ecology. In 2019, the IPCC 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 demonstrations for eco-awareness, and campaigner another voice was addressing youth feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of the author's book, about nature recovery, on how they transformed the a nearby property from a struggling dairy farm into a successful ecosystem. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the part for the next generation?” questions Molly. “So we developed a website and rang up loads of wildlife trusts and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders wishing to make changes and you lack capacity?’”
Jack adds the narrative: “Our whole project was essentially based on the belief that there were individuals who were ready to allow a collection of youthful enthusiasts on to their land indiscriminately, to decide on significant decisions that would affect land value
