That richly complex song of the nightingale is a uncommon occurrence in Britain these days, but not at this rural location. Four years ago, a solitary bird could be noticed at this hidden place in the countryside of Surrey; lately, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them singing all night, from five different territories,” notes Meg Cookson, top biologist for the eco-activist organization. A band of Youngwilders were staying overnight at the site, yet the nightingales were so noisy, “we were unable to rest all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the songbirds the next morning, Cookson remembers: “He’d never handled a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Accelerates at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by definition a gradual endeavor, but at this site at the farm, after just a short period, the outcomes are already apparent, and noticeable. The property used to be a retirement home for equines. Currently it’s a showpiece for the youth-led mission: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the biodiversity-poor regions in the globe, and to engage the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often shut out of, and a global warming issue they are often unable to prevent. Climate change persists, deforestation eliminates natural habitats, and one more Cop summit draws to a frustrating end in Brazil – so who could fault the younger generation for choosing to act independently?
Our organisation was based on the notion that there were individuals willing to let a collection of young idiots on to their estate
“The younger generation is the best educated environmentally that there’s ever been,” says the Youngwilders’ founder, one organizer. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the problems, and have contributed the smallest part to their origin, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a result.”
Revitalization of the Landscape
Now, the initiative is growing across the UK – and the original site planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s where we started, and the place we established our community,” notes Molly Easton, as she gives a tour of the 30-acre land. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she says, as we walk through overgrown meadows featuring shrubs, surrounded by forest. “The main noticeable transformation is that we’ve eliminated all the fencing, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like a unified landscape.” In the summer, they used special clothing and cleared large amounts of harmful weeds, an aggressive flora that can harm the body. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” notes the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a large part of animal feeding and seen what’s come up.”
Low scrub and hedgerows are a excellent nightingale habitat, she comments, although today they’re managing some of the wild growth to develop a increased diversity of ecosystems and to link up different sections of the property. Young saplings will take considerably longer to grow, but saplings from the nearby woodland are already establishing themselves in the meadows; the crew have been installing barriers to safeguard them from grazing deer.
Nature Reappears in Droves
There's more than the nightingales – wildlife is coming back in abundance. Recently they’ve observed reptiles, legless lizards, flyers and insects, explains a team member, as he uncovers one of their monitoring tools (similar to a cover over a depression in the soil). “You find snakes and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s probably a bit chilly for them now.” Organic beehives, built using empty sections of wood and humming with pollinators, are strapped to some of the plants. The lack of animals has given small creatures space to flourish in the meadows. When they came to this time, comments he, “I’d never observed so countless insects. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is going on?’”
Origins of the Initiative
The first Youngwilders – Bennett, Jack, Molly and more individuals – came together as learners, focusing on or expressing an concern in ecology. In the recent past, the IPCC was indicating that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of warming was seeming impossible, a prominent figure was guiding the school strikes for eco-awareness, and campaigner Clover Hogan was addressing the generation suffering from “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of a writer's publication, Wilding, on how they changed the Knepp Estate from a struggling dairy farm into a successful ecosystem. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what could be the role for youth?” asks Easton. “So we created a platform and contacted numerous of wildlife trusts and were like, ‘Do you ever get your estate holders wishing to do something and you don’t have time?’”
Durant continues the narrative: “Our entire project was fundamentally premised on the notion that there were landowners who were willing to let a bunch of young idiots on to their property indiscriminately, to make major actions that would impact land value
