That beautifully intricate melody of the songbird is a rare occurrence in the UK today, yet it's different at this rural location. Previously, a lone nightingale could be heard at this secluded place in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from multiple areas,” says one ecologist, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A band of volunteers were residing temporarily at the location, however the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so amazing.” An professional from the local conservation group came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, the ecologist states: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his hands before. He was crying.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by its very essence a lengthy business, but in this place at this property, after only four years, the outcomes are already evident, and hearable. The land previously served as a retirement home for horses. Currently it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the planet, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often denied access to, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to prevent. Global heating continues, tree clearing damages ecosystems, and another international meeting comes to a disappointing conclusion in abroad – so what person could fault youth for wanting to take matters into their own hands?
The organisation was founded on the belief that there were people willing to allow a group of young idiots on to their property
“The youth is the most knowledgeable environmentally that there’s previously,” says the Youngwilders’ co-director, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have added the minimal role to their origin, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a consequence.”
Revitalization of the Site
Now, the group is growing across the UK – and this location planted the seed, in all respects. “It’s where we started, and the place we built our community,” notes a founding member, as she gives a walkthrough of the 12-hectare site. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she says, as we move through tall vegetation featuring low scrub, bordered by forest. “The primary noticeable transformation is that we’ve removed all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like a single landscape.” In the summer, they donned special clothing and removed significant quantities of giant hogweed, an aggressive flora that can burn the skin. “We’ve planted many of natural barriers,” explains the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a little bit. We’ve eliminated a large part of grazing pressure and seen what’s come up.”
Low scrub and hedgerows are a perfect songbird home, she comments, but today they’re managing some of the wild growth to create a greater variety of habitats and to connect two parts of the site. New trees will take a while to take root, but young trees from the adjacent oaks are already growing in the fields; the group have been placing barriers to shield them from wildlife.
Wildlife Returns in Abundance
There's more than the nightingales – fauna is returning in droves. Lately they’ve spotted grass snakes, slowworms, flyers and invertebrates, says a team member, as he raises one of their reptile mats (such as a doormat over a small hollow in the ground). “You find reptiles and things residing under there, but it’s probably a slightly chilly for them now.” Natural homes, made from empty pieces of wood and active with insects, are fixed to some of the trees. The removal of livestock has allowed invertebrates opportunity to thrive in the meadows. When they visited this summer, comments he, “I’d not once encountered so many butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The first Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and two others – united as learners, studying or sharing an interest in nature. In that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of global heating was appearing out of reach, the activist was leading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and advocate Clover Hogan was talking about youth suffering from “climate anxiety”. It was also the era of the author's publication, on rewilding, on how she and her husband changed the a nearby property from a unsuccessful farm into a thriving natural habitat. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what was the role for the next generation?” asks Molly. “So we made a platform and called loads of conservation groups and were like, ‘Do you sometimes get your landowners wishing to do something and you lack time?’”
Jack explains the narrative: “Our whole project was basically founded on the belief that there were landowners who were willing to let a collection of young idiots on to their land freely, to make fairly massive decisions that would impact land value
