That manically melodic call of the nightingale is a scarce presence in the UK nowadays, yet not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a solitary nightingale could be noticed at this hidden location in rural Surrey; recently, they were all around. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from five different territories,” notes Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A band of participants were residing temporarily at the property, but the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist states: “He’d never held a songbird in his care before. He was teary.”
Ecological Restoration Progresses at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by nature a gradual endeavor, but in this place at the farm, after merely several seasons, the results are already apparent, and noticeable. The land previously served as a haven for equines. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to hasten nature recovery, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the globe, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often denied access to, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to prevent. Global heating persists, habitat loss destroys wildlife homes, and yet another Cop summit comes to a disappointing outcome in the host country – so who could fault youth for wanting to act independently?
Our initiative was based on the notion that there were people ready to allow a bunch of youthful idiots on to their land
“The newer cohort is the most informed ecologically that there’s ever been,” says the Youngwilders’ co-director, Jack Durant. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the issues, and have added the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a result.”
Change of the Landscape
Today, the group is growing across the UK – and this location was the beginning, in multiple ways. “It’s the initial project, and the place we built our network,” notes a founding member, as she gives a tour of the 12-hectare land. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she states, as we stroll through long grass filled with low scrub, bordered by mature woodland. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a single area.” In the recent season, they used protective gear and eradicated masses of invasive plants, an aggressive flora that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” says the director. “But the key action is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve reduced a significant amount of animal feeding and observed what’s sprung up.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a perfect nightingale habitat, she comments, although today they’re managing some of the brambles to establish a increased diversity of habitats and to connect separate areas of the land. Fresh plantings will take a while to take root, but young trees from the adjacent oaks are already taking root in the fields; the group have been placing guards to safeguard them from grazing deer.
Nature Reappears in Droves
In addition to the nightingales – fauna is returning in abundance. Recently they’ve spotted serpents, legless lizards, nocturnal mammals and bugs, notes a team member, as he raises one of their survey equipment (like a doormat over a small hollow in the soil). “You discover reptiles and things sheltering under there, but it’s probably a slightly cold for them now.” Organic nests, made from carved sections of wood and buzzing with insects, are attached to some of the trees. The lack of animals has provided small creatures opportunity to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they visited this time, comments the director, “I’d never observed so numerous insects. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Initiative
The original Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and additional members – united as youth, focusing on or sharing an interest in ecology. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the target of one and a half degrees of climate change was seeming impossible, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the youth protests for environmental action, and campaigner another voice was addressing the generation suffering from “environmental stress”. It was also the time of a writer's work, on rewilding, on how they revitalized the a nearby property from a failing farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what was the role for young people?” asks Molly. “So we made a online presence and called numerous of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you occasionally get your property owners wishing to make changes and you are short on resources?’”
Durant continues the story: “Our whole initiative was essentially based on the idea that there were landowners who were willing to let a group of youthful amateurs on to their property without strict rules, to take significant decisions that would change land value
