That manically melodic call of the nightingale is a rare presence in England nowadays, however it's different at this rural location. Back in 2020, a lone bird could be detected at this remote location in rural Surrey; recently, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from several zones,” notes a lead scientist, chief environmental expert for the eco-activist organization. A band of participants were staying overnight at the property, yet the nightingales were so noisy, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the regional nature organization came to help them trap and mark one of the birds the next morning, Cookson remembers: “He’d never handled a songbird in his care before. He was crying.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by nature a gradual business, but in this place at the farm, after only a short period, the results are already apparent, and noticeable. The property used to be a haven for equines. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to hasten habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor regions in the globe, and to engage the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often unable to prevent. Global heating advances, deforestation destroys wildlife homes, and one more Cop summit ends with a frustrating outcome in Brazil – so who could blame young people for choosing to initiate change themselves?
The initiative was based on the idea that there were landowners prepared to let a group of youthful amateurs on to their property
“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable ecologically that there’s historically,” states the Youngwilders’ founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the issues, and have contributed the least to their creation, and, then, are also going to suffer the worst as a result.”
Change of the Property
Currently, the group is expanding across the Britain – and this location planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and where we built our connections,” notes another co-director, as she offers a overview of the 30-acre property. “This used to be six different fields,” she says, as we walk through overgrown meadows filled with shrubs, bordered by forest. “The key visible difference is that we’ve taken out all the enclosures, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like one environment.” In the warmer months, they wore protective gear and removed masses of invasive plants, an non-native plant that can harm the body. “We’ve planted numerous of bush lines,” says the director. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve eliminated a lot of animal feeding and seen what’s emerged.”
Bushes and shrub lines are a ideal nightingale environment, she explains, although today they’re managing some of the brambles to establish a more variety of ecosystems and to connect different sections of the land. Young saplings will take a while to establish, but new growth from the nearby oaks are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the team have been installing guards to shield them from wildlife.
Nature Reappears in Droves
In addition to the songbirds – fauna is returning in large numbers. Recently they’ve spotted grass snakes, slowworms, nocturnal mammals and invertebrates, says Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (similar to a doormat over a small hollow in the earth). “You discover snakes and things hiding under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cold for them now.” Wild homes, built using empty parts of timber and active with pollinators, are strapped to some of the trees. The removal of grazing horses has provided invertebrates space to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they explored this season, states Bennett, “I’d not ever observed so countless butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The initial Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Molly and additional members – came together as students, pursuing or expressing an interest in environmental science. In that year, the IPCC was predicting that the safe limit of 1.5C of warming was seeming impossible, the activist was guiding the demonstrations for environmental action, and advocate another voice was discussing the generation experiencing “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of the author's work, Wilding, on how the authors revitalized the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful farm into a thriving wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the example, but what could be the role for youth?” says Molly. “So we developed a online presence and rang up many of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your property owners seeking to do something and you lack time?’”
Durant continues the account: “Our entire initiative was basically premised on the belief that there were landowners who were willing to allow a bunch of youthful idiots on to their property freely, to decide on significant actions that would change land value
