The beautifully intricate song of the nightingale is a rare occurrence in Britain nowadays, but not at Maple Farm. Back in 2020, a single nightingale could be noticed at this remote spot in rural Surrey; recently, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them singing all night, from several zones,” explains Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were camping out at the site, but the birds were so boisterous, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the local conservation group came to help them trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never held a songbird in his possession before. He was teary.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at Maple Farm
Rewilding is by nature a slow business, but here at Maple Farm, after just four years, the changes are already apparent, and audible. The land was once a sanctuary for equines. Currently it’s a model for the youth-led purpose: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the planet, and to connect young people (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often denied access to, and a climate crisis they are often unable to stop. Rising temperatures advances, tree clearing destroys ecosystems, and another climate conference ends with a frustrating conclusion in abroad – so who could fault youth for wishing to initiate change themselves?
Our organisation was premised on the belief that there were individuals willing to permit a bunch of youthful idiots on to their land
“The youth is the most informed in terms of nature that there’s ever been,” states the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the issues, and have played the smallest part to their causing, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a outcome.”
Change of the Site
Today, the initiative is growing across the Britain – and this location was the beginning, in all respects. “It’s where we started, and where we established our connections,” notes a founding member, as she provides a overview of the 12-hectare site. “This used to be six different fields,” she states, as we walk through long grass filled with low scrub, bordered by mature woodland. “The primary noticeable change is that we’ve taken out all the enclosures, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like a unified environment.” In the recent season, they wore protective gear and cleared significant quantities of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can harm the body. “We’ve established many of hedgerows,” explains the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a little bit. We’ve removed a large part of animal feeding and seen what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and hedgerows are a perfect songbird habitat, she explains, although today they’re trimming some of the wild growth to develop a increased variety of habitats and to link up separate areas of the property. Young saplings will take much more time to establish, but young trees from the adjacent oaks are already growing in the fields; the crew have been installing protectors to shield them from grazing deer.
Animals Reappears in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – wildlife is coming back in large numbers. This year they’ve seen serpents, slowworms, flyers and insects, explains a team member, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (such as a cover over a indentation in the earth). “You get reptiles and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cool for them now.” Organic nests, built using hollowed-out pieces of timber and humming with insects, are attached to some of the plants. The removal of livestock has given insects space to thrive in the overgrown areas. When they visited this time, comments he, “I’d not ever seen so many insects. There were just clouds of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The first founders – Bennett, Durant, Molly and more individuals – united as youth, studying or expressing an passion in nature. In that year, the climate experts was indicating that the target of 1.5C of climate change was appearing impossible, a prominent figure was leading the youth protests for environmental action, and campaigner a speaker was addressing youth feeling “environmental stress”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s book, on rewilding, on how they transformed the a Sussex location from a struggling farm into a successful ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what was the role for youth?” says Molly. “So we created a platform and rang up loads of wildlife trusts and were saying, ‘Do you ever get your landowners wanting to do something and you are short on resources?’”
Durant adds the account: “Our complete project was basically founded on the belief that there were landowners who were willing to let a group of youthful amateurs on to their land without strict rules, to decide on major actions that would impact land value
