The beautifully intricate melody of the songbird is a rare occurrence in Britain nowadays, but it's different at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a solitary bird could be heard at this remote location in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from five different territories,” says Meg Cookson, chief environmental expert for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were camping out at the site, but the birds were so loud, “we stayed awake all night,” says 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 nightingales the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never held a nightingale in his care before. He was teary.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at This Location
Ecological restoration is by definition a slow business, but in this place at Maple Farm, after merely a short period, the outcomes are already evident, and noticeable. The property used to be a sanctuary for horses. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to hasten habitat revival, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the world, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a global warming issue they are often powerless to stop. Climate change continues, deforestation damages ecosystems, and yet another climate conference ends with a frustrating end in Brazil – so who could blame young people for choosing to initiate change themselves?
The organisation was based on the belief that there were people willing to allow a group of youthful idiots on to their estate
“The youth is the most informed in terms of nature that there’s historically,” says the Youngwilders’ leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the problems, and have contributed the minimal role to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected the worst as a result.”
Transformation of the Property
Now, the organisation is taking root across the United Kingdom – and this location started it all, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and where we built our connections,” says another co-director, as she gives a overview of the 12-hectare land. “This was previously multiple separate areas,” she states, as we stroll through overgrown meadows dotted with low scrub, bordered by mature woodland. “The primary visual change is that we’ve removed all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like one area.” In the summer, they donned protective gear and cleared large amounts of invasive plants, an aggressive flora that can irritate the body. “We’ve introduced loads of natural barriers,” explains Easton. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a little bit. We’ve removed a lot of livestock impact and seen what’s sprung up.”
Underbrush and natural fences are a ideal songbird environment, she explains, but today they’re managing some of the thorny plants to create a greater variety of habitats and to connect different sections of the site. Young saplings will take much more time to take root, but new growth from the nearby trees are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the team have been placing protectors to safeguard them from animals.
Nature Comes Back in Droves
In addition to the songbirds – fauna is reappearing in droves. Lately they’ve observed reptiles, creatures, nocturnal mammals and insects, notes Noah Bennett, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (similar to a cover over a indentation in the earth). “You get snakes and animals residing under there, but it’s possibly a bit chilly for them now.” Wild nests, built using empty parts of timber and active with pollinators, are fixed to some of the trees. The lack of livestock has provided invertebrates space to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they came to this time, states Bennett, “I’d not once seen so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Project
The original Youngwilders – Noah, Jack, Molly and two others – formed as students, pursuing or expressing an interest in environmental science. In the recent past, the IPCC was indicating that the target of one and a half degrees of global heating was seeming impossible, a prominent figure was spearheading the demonstrations for climate movement, and campaigner Clover Hogan was talking about the generation suffering from “eco-worry”. It was also the period of a writer's publication, Wilding, on how she and her husband changed the a Sussex location from a struggling farm into a flourishing ecosystem. “We were super-inspired by the example, but what could be the role for youth?” says Molly. “So we made a online presence and called loads of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you sometimes get your property owners wanting to do something and you lack time?’”
Durant continues the story: “Our complete initiative was essentially founded on the idea that there were people who were willing to let a collection of young amateurs on to their property indiscriminately, to make significant choices that would impact land value
