The richly complex melody of the nightingale is a scarce occurrence in the UK today, but it's different at Maple Farm. Previously, a single nightingale could be detected at this secluded location in rural Surrey; recently, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from several zones,” explains Meg Cookson, top biologist for the Youngwilders. A group of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the property, yet the nightingales were so boisterous, “we were unable to rest all night,” comments an engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the regional nature organization came to help them capture and tag one of the birds the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his possession before. He was crying.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at This Location
Ecological restoration is by nature a slow business, but at this site at the farm, after only a short period, the changes are already apparent, and audible. The property was once a haven for animals. Now it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the globe, and to link young people (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often powerless to halt. Rising temperatures advances, tree clearing destroys wildlife homes, and one more climate conference draws to a disappointing conclusion in the host country – so what person could criticize young people for wanting to act independently?
Our initiative was founded on the idea that there were landowners prepared to let a collection of young amateurs on to their land
“The youth is the best educated environmentally that there’s historically,” says the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the highly invested in the issues, and have played the least to their creation, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a consequence.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Today, the initiative is growing across the Britain – and the original site planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and the place we built our community,” explains Molly Easton, as she provides a tour of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she states, as we move through overgrown meadows featuring shrubs, hemmed by mature woodland. “The key visual difference is that we’ve eliminated all the fencing, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a single environment.” In the summer, they donned protective gear and removed masses of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can irritate the body. “We’ve established many of bush lines,” explains Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of livestock impact and noticed what’s come up.”
Bushes and natural fences are a excellent nightingale environment, she says, although today they’re cutting back some of the wild growth to create a increased range of habitats and to connect different sections of the site. Fresh plantings will take much more time to take root, but new growth from the adjacent woodland are already growing in the open areas; the team have been placing guards to protect them from grazing deer.
Wildlife Comes Back in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – fauna is coming back in large numbers. Recently they’ve observed grass snakes, slowworms, nocturnal mammals and bugs, says Noah Bennett, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (similar to a cover over a small hollow in the ground). “You find creatures and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s probably a somewhat chilly for them now.” Organic homes, constructed from hollowed-out parts of wood and humming with pollinators, are attached to some of the woodland. The lack of grazing horses has given small creatures space to thrive in the meadows. When they came to this season, comments the director, “I’d not ever seen so numerous insects. There were just swarms of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The first founders – Noah, Jack, Easton and two others – formed as students, studying or sharing an interest in environmental science. In 2019, the IPCC was indicating that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of climate change was appearing out of reach, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the school strikes for environmental action, and activist Clover Hogan was addressing youth feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of a writer's work, about nature recovery, on how they changed the Knepp Estate from a failing dairy farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the case study, but what was the function for youth?” questions Easton. “So we developed a online presence and contacted many of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your property owners wishing to take action and you don’t have resources?’”
Jack explains the narrative: “Our entire organisation was basically founded on the idea that there were people who were willing to allow a group of young amateurs on to their property without strict rules, to decide on significant choices that would change land value
