The richly complex melody of the songbird is a rare sound in the UK nowadays, however it's different at the Surrey site. Back in 2020, a lone nightingale could be noticed at this hidden spot in rural Surrey; recently, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from several zones,” says one ecologist, top biologist for the Youngwilders. A group of volunteers were residing temporarily at the location, yet the nightingales were so boisterous, “we stayed awake all night,” comments an engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his hands before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Progresses at the Surrey Site
Nature recovery is by definition a slow endeavor, but in this place at Maple Farm, after merely four years, the changes are already apparent, and noticeable. The farm used to be a haven for animals. Today it’s a model for the youth-led mission: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the world, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often unable to stop. Climate change advances, habitat loss destroys natural habitats, and yet another climate conference draws to a disappointing conclusion in the host country – so who could fault the younger generation for wanting to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the belief that there were individuals ready to permit a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their land
“The youth is the most informed ecologically that there’s historically,” states the group's founder, one organizer. They are also “the deeply concerned in the problems, and have contributed the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a result.”
Transformation of the Site
Today, the group is expanding across the UK – and Maple Farm planted the seed, in all respects. “It’s our origin point, and the place we built our connections,” says Molly Easton, as she provides a tour of the expansive site. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she states, as we stroll through long grass filled with low scrub, hemmed by forest. “The main visible difference is that we’ve removed all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the summer, they wore special clothing and eradicated significant quantities of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can burn the skin. “We’ve established many of natural barriers,” explains the director. “But the primary focus is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve removed a large part of livestock impact and observed what’s sprung up.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a ideal songbird habitat, she comments, but now they’re managing some of the brambles to establish a more variety of ecosystems and to link up separate areas of the property. New trees will take much more time to take root, but saplings from the adjacent woodland are already taking root in the fields; the crew have been placing protectors to shield them from animals.
Nature Returns in Droves
There's more than the nightingales – animals is reappearing in droves. Lately they’ve spotted reptiles, creatures, flyers and invertebrates, explains Noah Bennett, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (similar to a cover over a depression in the ground). “You get creatures and animals sheltering under there, but it’s probably a somewhat cool for them now.” Organic homes, constructed from carved pieces of timber and buzzing with pollinators, are attached to some of the plants. The absence of animals has provided small creatures space to thrive in the meadows. When they came to this summer, says the director, “I’d not ever encountered so countless butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Origins of the Movement
The first participants – Noah, Jack, Molly and more individuals – formed as learners, studying or expressing an passion in nature. In that year, the climate experts was predicting that the safe limit of 1.5C of warming was looking unachievable, a prominent figure was spearheading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and advocate a speaker was discussing young people suffering from “eco-worry”. It was also the time of a writer's work, on rewilding, on how they changed the Knepp Estate from a failing farm into a thriving ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what could be the part for young people?” questions Easton. “So we made a website and rang up many of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders seeking to take action and you don’t have time?’”
Jack explains the story: “Our entire organisation was fundamentally founded on the notion that there were people who were prepared to let a bunch of young enthusiasts on to their land freely, to make significant actions that would impact land value
