The manically melodic song of the nightingale is a uncommon presence in the UK these days, yet not at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a solitary nightingale could be noticed at this remote spot in rural Surrey; recently, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them singing all night, from multiple areas,” explains a lead scientist, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were residing temporarily at the location, but the nightingales were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the birds the next morning, the ecologist remembers: “He’d never handled a songbird in his hands before. He was teary.”
Rewilding Progresses at Maple Farm
Nature recovery is by nature a lengthy business, but in this place at this property, after only several seasons, the results are already apparent, and noticeable. The farm previously served as a sanctuary for horses. Now it’s a showpiece for the youth-led purpose: to accelerate habitat revival, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the globe, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often unable to prevent. Global heating persists, habitat loss destroys ecosystems, and another Cop summit draws to a unsatisfactory outcome in the host country – so who could blame the younger generation for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the notion that there were individuals ready to allow a group of youthful amateurs on to their property
“The younger generation is the best educated ecologically that there’s ever been,” says the Youngwilders’ leader, one organizer. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the least to their creation, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a consequence.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Currently, the organisation is taking root across the UK – and Maple Farm started it all, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and where we created our network,” explains another co-director, as she gives a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of divided plots,” she states, as we walk through long grass featuring shrubs, surrounded by forest. “The key visible change is that we’ve removed all the barriers, a significant length of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the warmer months, they used protective gear and cleared masses of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can harm the skin. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” notes the director. “But the primary focus is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a lot of animal feeding and observed what’s emerged.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a ideal nightingale home, she says, although today they’re managing some of the thorny plants to develop a greater variety of habitats and to link up different sections of the site. Young saplings will take much more time to take root, but young trees from the adjacent oaks are already establishing themselves in the meadows; the group have been placing protectors to shield them from wildlife.
Wildlife Returns in Droves
In addition to the songbirds – animals is returning in large numbers. Recently they’ve spotted reptiles, slowworms, flyers and bugs, says Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (similar to a doormat over a depression in the ground). “You find reptiles and things hiding under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cold for them now.” Natural beehives, made from carved pieces of wood and active with insects, are attached to some of the plants. The lack of animals has allowed insects opportunity to prosper in the long grass. When they explored this season, comments Bennett, “I’d not once observed so many butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The initial participants – Bennett, Durant, Molly and more individuals – came together as learners, pursuing or sharing an interest in nature. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was forecasting that the target of 1.5C of warming was seeming impossible, the activist was spearheading the school strikes for climate movement, and activist a speaker was addressing youth feeling “environmental stress”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s publication, on rewilding, on how the authors transformed the Knepp Estate from a struggling farm into a flourishing ecosystem. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what was the part for youth?” says Molly. “So we developed a website and called loads of environmental organizations and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders seeking to make changes and you lack time?’”
Jack adds the narrative: “Our entire initiative was basically based on the notion that there were individuals who were prepared to allow a collection of young amateurs on to their estate without strict rules, to decide on significant actions that would impact land value
