The richly complex song of the songbird is a rare presence in the UK nowadays, however not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single bird could be noticed at this hidden spot in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from five different territories,” explains Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A group of volunteers were camping out at the location, however the birds were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says an engagement lead. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them net and ring one of the birds the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his care before. He was crying.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by nature a gradual process, but at this site at Maple Farm, after merely four years, the outcomes are already evident, and audible. The land was once a sanctuary for horses. Currently it’s a showpiece for the youth-led purpose: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the biodiversity-poor regions in the world, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a global warming issue they are often powerless to stop. Global heating continues, deforestation eliminates wildlife homes, and one more Cop summit ends with a disappointing conclusion in the host country – so what person could blame the younger generation for choosing to act independently?
Our initiative was founded on the notion that there were people ready to allow a group of youthful amateurs on to their property
“The newer cohort is the most knowledgeable ecologically that there’s historically,” states the group's leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the deeply concerned in the issues, and have added the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a result.”
Transformation of the Site
Now, the group is expanding across the UK – and Maple Farm was the beginning, in multiple ways. “It’s our origin point, and the place we established our community,” notes Molly Easton, as she offers a tour of the expansive property. “This used to be divided plots,” she says, as we walk through long grass filled with shrubs, hemmed by mature woodland. “The key noticeable difference is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a single landscape.” In the recent season, they donned hazmat suits and removed large amounts of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can burn the body. “We’ve planted many of natural barriers,” notes the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a little bit. We’ve reduced a large part of grazing pressure and noticed what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a excellent songbird home, she says, however today they’re cutting back some of the thorny plants to develop a greater variety of habitats and to link up separate areas of the site. Young saplings will take a while to establish, but new growth from the adjacent oaks are already taking root in the fields; the team have been placing protectors to shield them from wildlife.
Wildlife Comes Back in Abundance
It’s not just the songbirds – animals is coming back in large numbers. Lately they’ve seen reptiles, slowworms, nocturnal mammals and invertebrates, notes another co-director, as he raises one of their reptile mats (like a doormat over a small hollow in the earth). “You find reptiles and animals sheltering under there, but it’s possibly a somewhat cool for them now.” Wild beehives, made from hollowed-out parts of tree trunk and buzzing with pollinators, are strapped to some of the trees. The absence of animals has given small creatures room to thrive in the meadows. When they explored this time, states the director, “I’d not ever seen so countless insects. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Movement
The initial founders – Bennett, Jack, Molly and more individuals – came together as learners, pursuing or expressing an interest in environmental science. In 2019, the IPCC was indicating that the target of 1.5C of global heating was seeming out of reach, the activist was leading the demonstrations for climate movement, and advocate Clover Hogan was discussing youth feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of the author's publication, on rewilding, on how the authors revitalized the a Sussex location from a unsuccessful farm into a thriving ecosystem. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what could be the role for the next generation?” asks Molly. “So we made a platform and called loads of wildlife trusts and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders wanting to do something and you don’t have resources?’”
Durant adds the narrative: “Our entire initiative was basically founded on the belief that there were people who were ready to let a group of youthful amateurs on to their property freely, to decide on fairly massive decisions that would change land value
