The beautifully intricate melody of the nightingale is a uncommon sound in England today, but not at this rural location. Four years ago, a solitary 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, top biologist for the Youngwilders. A group of Youngwilders were staying overnight at the property, yet the birds were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” comments an engagement lead. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was crying.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by definition a slow process, but in this place at this property, after just a short period, the outcomes are already apparent, and noticeable. The farm previously served as a sanctuary for horses. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often denied access to, and a global warming issue they are often unable to prevent. Global heating continues, tree clearing destroys natural habitats, and one more Cop summit comes to a frustrating end in the host country – so what person could fault youth for wanting to act independently?
The initiative was founded on the belief that there were landowners willing to allow a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their property
“The newer cohort is the most informed environmentally that there’s previously,” explains the Youngwilders’ founder, one organizer. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have contributed the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer the greatest as a outcome.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Now, the group is expanding across the UK – and the original site was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our network,” notes another co-director, as she gives a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she states, as we walk through long grass dotted with low scrub, bordered by established trees. “The main visible change is that we’ve taken out all the enclosures, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a single landscape.” In the warmer months, they donned special clothing and removed significant quantities of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can irritate the skin. “We’ve planted loads of hedgerows,” explains the director. “But the primary focus is we’ve just let it breathe for a little bit. We’ve reduced a lot of animal feeding and seen what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and shrub lines are a excellent songbird environment, she says, however today they’re cutting back some of the brambles to establish a increased diversity of habitats and to connect different sections of the land. New trees will take a while to grow, but saplings from the nearby oaks are already establishing themselves in the fields; the group have been placing protectors to shield them from animals.
Animals Returns in Droves
It’s not just the nightingales – animals is reappearing in large numbers. Recently they’ve seen grass snakes, creatures, flyers and bugs, explains another co-director, as he raises one of their monitoring tools (like a mat over a small hollow in the ground). “You discover creatures and things sheltering under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cool for them now.” Organic nests, constructed from hollowed-out parts of timber and active with insects, are attached to some of the plants. The lack of animals has given small creatures opportunity to thrive in the overgrown areas. When they visited this time, comments he, “I’d not once observed so many butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Origins of the Movement
The first founders – Bennett, Durant, Molly and additional members – came together as youth, pursuing or having an passion in ecology. In the recent past, the climate experts was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of climate change was seeming out of reach, the activist was leading the demonstrations for environmental action, and activist a speaker was talking about the generation experiencing “environmental stress”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s work, on rewilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a failing dairy farm into a successful ecosystem. “We were super-inspired by the case study, but what was the function for young people?” asks Molly. “So we created a online presence and rang up loads of wildlife trusts and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders wanting to take action and you don’t have resources?’”
Durant adds the account: “Our whole organisation was fundamentally founded on the belief that there were individuals who were willing to let a bunch of young enthusiasts on to their estate freely, to take major decisions that would change land value
