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The richly complex song of the nightingale is a uncommon sound in England today, yet it's different at the Surrey site. Back in 2020, a single nightingale could be detected at this remote spot in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were all around. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from multiple areas,” explains one ecologist, chief environmental expert for the Youngwilders. A group of participants were residing temporarily at the site, but the nightingales were so boisterous, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the regional nature organization came to help them net and ring one of the songbirds the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his possession before. He was crying.”

Rewilding Accelerates at This Location

Rewilding is by definition a slow process, but here at this property, after only a short period, the results are already apparent, and noticeable. The farm used to be a retirement home for horses. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to speed up habitat revival, in one of the ecologically impoverished regions in the planet, and to engage young people (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often unable to prevent. Climate change persists, habitat loss eliminates wildlife homes, and another climate conference ends with a unsatisfactory end in Brazil – so what person could criticize young people for wishing to take matters into their own hands?

Our organisation was based on the belief that there were people willing to allow a group of young enthusiasts on to their land

“The younger generation is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s previously,” says the group's leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the problems, and have contributed the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a result.”

Transformation of the Property

Now, the organisation is taking root across the Britain – and the original site started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s the initial project, and the place we built our community,” says a founding member, as she offers a overview of the expansive property. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she states, as we walk through overgrown meadows filled with shrubs, hemmed by forest. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like a single environment.” In the warmer months, they used protective gear and removed significant quantities of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve introduced loads of hedgerows,” says Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of grazing pressure and seen what’s emerged.”

Low scrub and shrub lines are a ideal nightingale environment, she comments, but currently they’re managing some of the thorny plants to create a greater variety of habitats and to connect two parts of the property. Fresh plantings will take considerably longer to take root, but new growth from the surrounding trees are already growing in the fields; the team have been installing guards to protect them from wildlife.

Wildlife Returns in Abundance

It’s not just the nightingales – fauna is coming back in abundance. This year they’ve observed reptiles, creatures, flyers and invertebrates, says another co-director, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (like a cover over a indentation in the soil). “You find snakes and wildlife hiding under there, but it’s possibly a bit cold for them now.” Wild beehives, built using hollowed-out pieces of wood and active with pollinators, are strapped to some of the plants. The lack of grazing horses has given invertebrates opportunity to flourish in the long grass. When they visited this summer, comments the director, “I’d not ever encountered so numerous butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were like, ‘What is occurring?’”

Inception of the Movement

The first Youngwilders – Bennett, Durant, Molly and additional members – came together as students, studying or expressing an concern in ecology. In 2019, the climate experts was forecasting that the target of one and a half degrees of global heating was seeming unachievable, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the youth protests for climate movement, and advocate Clover Hogan was discussing the generation feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s publication, on rewilding, on how the authors revitalized the a nearby property from a failing agricultural business into a thriving ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what could be the part for the next generation?” says Easton. “So we made a online presence and called loads of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you ever get your landowners seeking to do something and you lack capacity?’”

Jack continues the narrative: “Our complete initiative was essentially based on the idea that there were landowners who were ready to allow a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their estate without strict rules, to make major choices that would impact land value