That richly complex call of the songbird is a uncommon sound in England today, however not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single bird could be noticed at this secluded spot in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them singing all night, from several zones,” notes a lead scientist, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A group of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the property, yet the nightingales were so loud, “we were unable to rest all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so cool.” An specialist from the regional nature organization came to help them net and ring one of the birds the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was emotional.”
Ecological Restoration Accelerates at This Location
Rewilding is by nature a lengthy process, but at this site at this property, after just four years, the changes are already visible, and hearable. The property previously served as a sanctuary for horses. Now it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate ecological restoration, in one of the biodiversity-poor nations in the world, and to connect youth (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to stop. Global heating persists, tree clearing destroys natural habitats, and yet another international meeting comes to a frustrating outcome in the host country – so what person could blame youth for wanting to act independently?
Our organisation was based on the belief that there were landowners willing to allow a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their land
“The younger generation is the most informed in terms of nature that there’s historically,” states the group's co-director, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have contributed the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a consequence.”
Change of the Property
Now, the initiative is expanding across the United Kingdom – and this location planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and where we established our connections,” explains another co-director, as she gives a tour of the 30-acre property. “This was previously divided plots,” she comments, as we stroll through long grass dotted with shrubs, hemmed by mature woodland. “The key visual change is that we’ve removed all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a unified landscape.” In the warmer months, they used hazmat suits and removed large amounts of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can burn the flesh. “We’ve established numerous of natural barriers,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a lot of livestock impact and observed what’s sprung up.”
Bushes and shrub lines are a excellent nightingale environment, she comments, although today they’re managing some of the wild growth to establish a greater diversity of habitats and to connect separate areas of the land. New trees will take a while to establish, but saplings from the surrounding woodland are already establishing themselves in the meadows; the team have been installing protectors to protect them from grazing deer.
Wildlife Comes Back in Droves
In addition to the songbirds – wildlife is coming back in large numbers. Lately they’ve seen reptiles, legless lizards, nocturnal mammals and insects, says Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their monitoring tools (similar to a cover over a indentation in the soil). “You get reptiles and things hiding under there, but it’s possibly a somewhat cold for them now.” Natural nests, constructed from empty sections of wood and buzzing with pollinators, are attached to some of the plants. The removal of animals has given insects space to thrive in the long grass. When they visited this time, states the director, “I’d not once seen so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The first Youngwilders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and additional members – united as youth, focusing on or expressing an interest in environmental science. In 2019, the climate experts was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of climate change was looking impossible, the activist was spearheading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and activist Clover Hogan was talking about the generation experiencing “eco-worry”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s publication, Wilding, on how she and her husband transformed the a Sussex location from a unsuccessful farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what was the role for youth?” says Molly. “So we created a website and called many of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners wishing to make changes and you are short on resources?’”
Jack continues the account: “Our entire organisation was fundamentally based on the belief that there were landowners who were willing to let a group of youthful idiots on to their estate freely, to decide on significant actions that would affect land value
