The manically melodic song of the songbird is a rare presence in the UK today, but not at this rural location. Four years ago, a lone bird could be heard at this secluded place in rural Surrey; this summer, they were all around. “We were hearing them singing all night, from five different territories,” notes one ecologist, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A team of volunteers were staying overnight at the location, yet the birds were so noisy, “we were unable to rest all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so cool.” An specialist from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never touched a songbird in his possession before. He was crying.”
Ecological Restoration Progresses at This Location
Rewilding is by its very essence a lengthy business, but here at Maple Farm, after only several seasons, the results are already evident, and hearable. The land previously served as a haven for equines. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor regions in the planet, and to link youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often unable to prevent. Global heating continues, deforestation destroys ecosystems, and another international meeting draws to a frustrating outcome in abroad – so who could criticize the younger generation for wanting to take matters into their own hands?
The project was based on the belief that there were landowners ready to let a group of youthful amateurs on to their property
“The youth is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s historically,” explains the Youngwilders’ founder, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a result.”
Transformation of the Site
Today, the group is taking root across the UK – and the original site was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s where we started, and the place we built our community,” explains Molly Easton, as she provides a tour of the 12-hectare site. “This used to be divided plots,” she says, as we move through overgrown meadows filled with low scrub, bordered by mature woodland. “The key noticeable change is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like one area.” In the warmer months, they used special clothing and eradicated significant quantities of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can burn the skin. “We’ve introduced many of bush lines,” notes Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve reduced a significant amount of grazing pressure and seen what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and hedgerows are a perfect songbird habitat, she explains, however today they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to create a greater range of habitats and to link up separate areas of the site. Young saplings will take considerably longer to establish, but young trees from the surrounding woodland are already establishing themselves in the fields; the crew have been placing barriers to safeguard them from grazing deer.
Wildlife Returns in Abundance
It’s not just the songbirds – fauna is reappearing in large numbers. This year they’ve observed serpents, creatures, nocturnal mammals and bugs, explains Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (similar to a mat over a small hollow in the ground). “You discover snakes and animals residing under there, but it’s possibly a somewhat chilly for them now.” Wild nests, constructed from hollowed-out sections of timber and humming with wild bees, are attached to some of the plants. The absence of livestock has given invertebrates room to thrive in the overgrown areas. When they explored this time, states the director, “I’d not once observed so countless insects. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Origins of the Initiative
The original founders – Noah, Durant, Molly and more individuals – formed as youth, focusing on or sharing an interest in ecology. In 2019, the climate experts was forecasting that the target of 1.5C of climate change was seeming unachievable, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the demonstrations for environmental action, and activist a speaker was discussing young people experiencing “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of the author's book, Wilding, on how the authors changed the Knepp Estate from a struggling farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what could be the function for young people?” asks Molly. “So we developed a online presence and contacted numerous of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you ever get your landowners wishing to do something and you don’t have resources?’”
Durant continues the narrative: “Our whole initiative was basically based on the idea that there were individuals who were prepared to permit a bunch of youthful idiots on to their land indiscriminately, to take major choices that would affect land value
