That manically melodic call of the songbird is a rare presence in England today, however it's different at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single nightingale could be detected at this hidden location in rural Surrey; this summer, they were all around. “We were hearing them singing all night, from several zones,” explains a lead scientist, chief environmental expert for the youth rewilding group. A group of participants were staying overnight at the location, however the nightingales were so boisterous, “we were unable to rest all night,” says Layla Mapemba. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so cool.” An specialist from the local conservation group came to help them trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never held a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by its very essence a slow process, but at this site at this property, after only several seasons, the changes are already visible, and hearable. The farm was once a haven for horses. Today it’s a model for the youth-led purpose: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the world, and to connect young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to prevent. Rising temperatures persists, habitat loss eliminates natural habitats, and yet another international meeting ends with a disappointing outcome in the host country – so who could criticize the younger generation for choosing to initiate change themselves?
Our project was based on the idea that there were individuals willing to allow a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their estate
“The youth is the most informed environmentally that there’s previously,” says the Youngwilders’ founder, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the greatest as a result.”
Revitalization of the Property
Now, the organisation is taking root across the Britain – and the original site started it all, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and where we built our community,” explains another co-director, as she gives a overview of the 12-hectare site. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she comments, as we walk through long grass dotted with bushes, bordered by mature woodland. “The primary noticeable transformation is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the summer, they used hazmat suits and removed masses of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can burn the skin. “We’ve planted loads of hedgerows,” says she. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a little bit. We’ve eliminated a large part of animal feeding and noticed what’s sprung up.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a excellent nightingale habitat, she says, but today they’re managing some of the thorny plants to establish a more diversity of environments and to connect two parts of the site. Young saplings will take considerably longer to take root, but young trees from the nearby oaks are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the crew have been installing protectors to protect them from wildlife.
Animals Reappears in Large Numbers
There's more than the songbirds – animals is reappearing in abundance. Lately they’ve seen grass snakes, slowworms, flyers and invertebrates, explains a team member, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (such as a mat over a depression in the earth). “You get reptiles and things residing under there, but it’s possibly a somewhat cold for them now.” Wild nests, constructed from carved sections of wood and active with pollinators, are strapped to some of the woodland. The absence of livestock has given insects space to thrive in the long grass. When they came to this time, states he, “I’d never seen so many butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”
Origins of the Movement
The initial participants – Noah, Jack, Easton and additional members – came together as learners, studying or sharing an concern in environmental science. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the safe limit of 1.5C of global heating was appearing impossible, a prominent figure was guiding the school strikes for climate movement, and activist a speaker was discussing young people suffering from “environmental stress”. It was also the period of a writer's book, on rewilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the a Sussex location from a struggling dairy farm into a successful natural habitat. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what could be the role for young people?” questions Easton. “So we made a platform and contacted loads of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you ever get your landowners wanting to do something and you don’t have capacity?’”
Jack continues the account: “Our whole organisation was fundamentally based on the notion that there were individuals who were prepared to allow a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their land freely, to make significant choices that would affect land value
