That richly complex call of the nightingale is a rare occurrence in the UK these days, however it's different at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a lone bird could be heard at this hidden location in the countryside of Surrey; recently, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from five different territories,” explains one ecologist, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A band of volunteers were residing temporarily at the location, however the birds were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” comments an engagement lead. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them capture and tag one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist states: “He’d never touched a songbird in his possession before. He was teary.”
Ecological Restoration Accelerates at Maple Farm
Nature recovery is by definition a gradual process, but in this place at the farm, after only a short period, the results are already visible, and hearable. The farm was once a retirement home for horses. Today it’s a showpiece for the youth-led mission: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the planet, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often unable to prevent. Rising temperatures persists, tree clearing eliminates wildlife homes, and another climate conference ends with a frustrating conclusion in abroad – so what person could fault the younger generation for wanting to initiate change themselves?
The project was based on the belief that there were landowners willing to let a bunch of young idiots on to their property
“The newer cohort is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s historically,” explains the Youngwilders’ founder, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the issues, and have contributed the minimal role to their origin, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a result.”
Transformation of the Property
Now, the organisation is taking root across the UK – and Maple Farm started it all, in all respects. “It’s where we started, and where we built our network,” explains Molly Easton, as she provides a walkthrough of the 12-hectare property. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we stroll through long grass dotted with bushes, hemmed by established trees. “The key visual difference is that we’ve eliminated all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like a unified area.” In the warmer months, they wore hazmat suits and removed masses of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can harm the flesh. “We’ve introduced many of natural barriers,” explains Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve reduced a significant amount of animal feeding and observed what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a ideal nightingale home, she comments, however today they’re trimming some of the wild growth to create a more diversity of habitats and to connect separate areas of the site. Young saplings will take considerably longer to establish, but new growth from the nearby woodland are already taking root in the open areas; the group have been placing barriers to protect them from wildlife.
Animals Returns in Abundance
It’s not just the songbirds – wildlife is reappearing in droves. Lately they’ve spotted serpents, creatures, nocturnal mammals and bugs, says a team member, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (similar to a cover over a small hollow in the ground). “You discover snakes and things hiding under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cold for them now.” Organic homes, built using hollowed-out sections of wood and active with pollinators, are fixed to some of the woodland. The absence of animals has provided insects space to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they visited this summer, comments the director, “I’d not ever observed so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Movement
The initial founders – Bennett, Jack, Easton and two others – came together as youth, focusing on or expressing an interest in environmental science. In that year, the IPCC was forecasting that the safe limit of 1.5C of warming was looking unachievable, a prominent figure was spearheading the school strikes for climate movement, and advocate a speaker was addressing the generation feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of a writer's book, Wilding, on how they changed the a Sussex location from a struggling farm into a successful natural habitat. “We were deeply influenced by the case study, but what was the role for youth?” asks Molly. “So we developed a website and rang up loads of conservation groups and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners wishing to make changes and you are short on resources?’”
Jack adds the story: “Our complete project was essentially premised on the belief that there were landowners who were willing to permit a bunch of young idiots on to their estate freely, to make major decisions that would change land value
