The beautifully intricate melody of the nightingale is a rare occurrence in the UK nowadays, however not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single bird could be noticed at this hidden spot in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them singing all night, from multiple areas,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A group of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the property, yet the birds were so noisy, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all exhausted 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 states: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his possession before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Accelerates at the Surrey Site
Nature recovery is by definition a slow business, but at this site at the farm, after merely four years, the changes are already apparent, and noticeable. The land used to be a haven for equines. Currently it’s a showpiece for the youth-led goal: to hasten nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the globe, and to engage the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often denied access to, and a climate crisis they are often unable to stop. Rising temperatures advances, deforestation destroys ecosystems, and one more international meeting ends with a frustrating conclusion in abroad – so what person could fault youth for wishing to act independently?
The initiative was founded on the belief that there were people prepared to permit a group of youthful idiots on to their land
“The youth is the most informed environmentally that there’s ever been,” explains the group's co-director, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have played the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a result.”
Change of the Landscape
Now, the initiative is expanding across the Britain – and this location was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s where we started, and the place we created our community,” says another co-director, as she offers a tour of the expansive property. “This was previously multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we move through tall vegetation filled with low scrub, bordered by forest. “The main visible difference is that we’ve removed all the barriers, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like a single area.” In the warmer months, they used protective gear and cleared significant quantities of harmful weeds, an aggressive flora that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve introduced loads of bush lines,” explains the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a little bit. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of animal feeding and noticed what’s come up.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a ideal nightingale habitat, she says, but currently they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to create a greater diversity of habitats and to link up separate areas of the land. Young saplings will take considerably longer to grow, but new growth from the adjacent oaks are already growing in the meadows; the team have been installing guards to safeguard them from grazing deer.
Wildlife Comes Back in Large Numbers
There's more than the songbirds – fauna is coming back in abundance. Lately they’ve seen serpents, legless lizards, bats and invertebrates, explains another co-director, as he raises one of their survey equipment (similar to a doormat over a indentation in the soil). “You get reptiles and wildlife residing under there, but it’s probably a slightly cold for them now.” Wild beehives, made from empty pieces of timber and active with wild bees, are fixed to some of the trees. The absence of animals has given insects room to thrive in the meadows. When they came to this summer, comments the director, “I’d not once observed so numerous lepidoptera. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is occurring?’”
Beginnings of the Initiative
The initial Youngwilders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and more individuals – united as youth, studying or sharing an interest in nature. In the recent past, the IPCC was forecasting that the target of 1.5C of warming was appearing impossible, a prominent figure was spearheading the demonstrations for climate movement, and advocate Clover Hogan was talking about young people experiencing “environmental stress”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s work, on rewilding, on how the authors revitalized the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful agricultural business into a flourishing natural habitat. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what could be the function for youth?” asks Easton. “So we created a website and contacted loads of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders seeking to take action and you lack resources?’”
Durant continues the narrative: “Our entire organisation was essentially premised on the belief that there were people who were willing to allow a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their land indiscriminately, to make significant choices that would impact land value
