That beautifully intricate melody of the songbird is a rare presence in the UK today, but not at the Surrey site. Back in 2020, a single bird could be noticed at this remote place in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were all around. “We were listening to them calling all night, from five different territories,” says a lead scientist, top biologist for the Youngwilders. A band of participants were staying overnight at the site, but the birds were so boisterous, “we were unable to rest all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An specialist from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was crying.”
Ecological Restoration Accelerates at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by nature a gradual endeavor, but in this place at the farm, after merely a short period, the changes are already visible, and noticeable. The land previously served as a haven for equines. Today it’s a model for the youth-led purpose: to hasten nature recovery, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the world, and to link youth (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often excluded from, and a global warming issue they are often powerless to halt. Global heating advances, habitat loss damages wildlife homes, and one more climate conference draws to a frustrating end in abroad – so who could blame youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
The organisation was based on the belief that there were individuals ready to permit a group of young idiots on to their land
“The youth is the most knowledgeable environmentally that there’s previously,” states the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have contributed the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a result.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Now, the organisation is expanding across the UK – and this location planted the seed, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and where we established our community,” says a founding member, as she provides a tour of the 12-hectare property. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she says, as we move through tall vegetation filled with low scrub, surrounded by established trees. “The main visible difference is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, a significant length of it, to make it feel like one landscape.” In the recent season, they donned special clothing and removed significant quantities of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve established numerous of hedgerows,” says Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a little bit. We’ve removed a lot of livestock impact and observed what’s sprung up.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a ideal nightingale habitat, she says, although now they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to create a increased range of ecosystems and to join different sections of the land. New trees will take a while to take root, but young trees from the nearby woodland are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the team have been installing guards to protect them from wildlife.
Nature Reappears in Large Numbers
There's more than the nightingales – wildlife is coming back in large numbers. Lately they’ve seen grass snakes, legless lizards, flyers and insects, says another co-director, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (similar to a cover over a small hollow in the earth). “You get reptiles and wildlife hiding under there, but it’s probably a bit chilly for them now.” Wild nests, built using carved sections of tree trunk and humming with pollinators, are strapped to some of the trees. The lack of livestock has given small creatures space to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they visited this summer, comments the director, “I’d never seen so many lepidoptera. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Inception of the Movement
The first Youngwilders – Noah, Jack, Easton and additional members – came together as youth, studying or expressing an concern in ecology. In 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was forecasting that the safe limit of 1.5C of global heating was appearing impossible, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the demonstrations for environmental action, and campaigner a speaker was discussing young people experiencing “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of a writer's work, Wilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the a nearby property from a failing dairy farm into a flourishing natural habitat. “We were super-inspired by the case study, but what was the role for the next generation?” questions Molly. “So we created a website and contacted many of wildlife trusts and were asking, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners seeking to make changes and you are short on capacity?’”
Durant continues the narrative: “Our complete project was essentially premised on the idea that there were landowners who were willing to let a collection of youthful enthusiasts on to their estate without strict rules, to make fairly massive decisions that would change land value
