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The beautifully intricate melody of the songbird is a scarce sound in England nowadays, however it's different at Maple Farm. Back in 2020, a single nightingale could be heard at this hidden spot in rural Surrey; recently, they were all around. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from five different territories,” notes a lead scientist, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A team of volunteers were camping out at the location, however the nightingales were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks an engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so cool.” An professional from the regional nature organization came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was emotional.”

Habitat Revival Accelerates at Maple Farm

Ecological restoration is by its very essence a slow process, but here at Maple Farm, after just four years, the changes are already evident, and hearable. The land used to be a retirement home for equines. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the world, and to link youth (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often excluded from, and a global warming issue they are often unable to prevent. Global heating continues, deforestation destroys natural habitats, and another international meeting comes to a frustrating end in abroad – so who could criticize the younger generation for wishing to initiate change themselves?

The organisation was based on the belief that there were people prepared to permit a bunch of young enthusiasts on to their property

“The younger generation is the most informed environmentally that there’s ever been,” says the Youngwilders’ founder, a key figure. They are also “the highly invested in the issues, and have played the smallest part to their origin, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a result.”

Revitalization of the Site

Currently, the group is expanding across the UK – and Maple Farm planted the seed, in all respects. “It’s our origin point, and where we built our community,” explains a founding member, as she provides a walkthrough of the 12-hectare land. “This was previously divided plots,” she states, as we move through tall vegetation filled with low scrub, surrounded by established trees. “The primary visual change is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like a unified environment.” In the warmer months, they donned special clothing and cleared masses of invasive plants, an aggressive flora that can burn the body. “We’ve planted many of natural barriers,” notes the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of animal feeding and seen what’s sprung up.”

Underbrush and shrub lines are a ideal songbird environment, she comments, however now they’re trimming some of the wild growth to create a more variety of habitats and to join two parts of the property. Young saplings will take a while to establish, but young trees from the adjacent woodland are already growing in the fields; the group have been placing barriers to shield them from grazing deer.

Animals Returns in Abundance

There's more than the nightingales – fauna is reappearing in abundance. Lately they’ve observed reptiles, creatures, bats and invertebrates, notes another co-director, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (such as a doormat over a small hollow in the ground). “You get creatures and things hiding under there, but it’s likely a slightly cold for them now.” Natural beehives, made from carved pieces of timber and active with pollinators, are fixed to some of the trees. The absence of livestock has provided invertebrates space to flourish in the long grass. When they came to this season, comments the director, “I’d never observed so countless lepidoptera. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”

Beginnings of the Project

The original founders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and more individuals – united as youth, pursuing or sharing an interest in ecology. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 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 the generation experiencing “eco-worry”. It was also the era of a writer's work, Wilding, on how she and her husband changed the Knepp Estate from a failing dairy farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the example, but what could be the function for the next generation?” questions Easton. “So we made a website and called loads of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your landowners wishing to do something and you don’t have capacity?’”

Jack adds the story: “Our entire initiative was essentially based on the idea that there were individuals who were prepared to allow a bunch of young enthusiasts on to their estate indiscriminately, to take major choices that would impact land value