The beautifully intricate call of the songbird is a uncommon occurrence in England nowadays, yet not at the Surrey site. Previously, a single bird could be noticed at this hidden spot in rural Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them singing all night, from five different territories,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A group of Youngwilders were camping out at the location, however the nightingales were so noisy, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks an engagement lead. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so cool.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, she states: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his possession before. He was crying.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at This Location
Rewilding is by definition a slow process, but here at the farm, after just several seasons, the changes are already evident, and hearable. The land used to be a retirement home for animals. Today it’s a example for the youth-led purpose: to speed up nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished regions in the planet, and to engage the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to prevent. Global heating continues, deforestation destroys ecosystems, and yet another Cop summit draws to a unsatisfactory conclusion in Brazil – so who could blame the younger generation for wanting to initiate change themselves?
Our organisation was founded on the belief that there were landowners prepared to let a collection of young amateurs on to their land
“The younger generation is the most informed environmentally that there’s ever been,” explains the group's founder, Jack Durant. They are also “the deeply concerned in the problems, and have played the least to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a consequence.”
Transformation of the Site
Today, the group is growing across the United Kingdom – and this location planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and the place we established our community,” says a founding member, as she gives a tour of the 30-acre land. “This used to be divided plots,” she comments, as we walk through tall vegetation filled with bushes, hemmed by established trees. “The main visual transformation is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, a significant length of it, to make it feel like one landscape.” In the warmer months, they wore hazmat suits and removed masses of giant hogweed, an aggressive flora that can harm the flesh. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a short time. We’ve reduced a lot of grazing pressure and noticed what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a perfect nightingale home, she comments, but currently they’re managing some of the thorny plants to develop a increased variety of habitats and to connect different sections of the property. Fresh plantings will take considerably longer to establish, but new growth from the nearby woodland are already growing in the open areas; the group have been installing barriers to shield them from animals.
Wildlife Reappears in Large Numbers
It’s not just the songbirds – wildlife is returning in droves. This year they’ve seen grass snakes, legless lizards, bats and insects, notes Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (like a doormat over a depression in the earth). “You get creatures and wildlife sheltering under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cold for them now.” Natural homes, built using hollowed-out parts of wood and buzzing with wild bees, are fixed to some of the plants. The lack of animals has provided small creatures space to thrive in the meadows. When they explored this time, comments the director, “I’d not ever seen so numerous butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Initiative
The original Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Molly and two others – formed as students, studying or having an concern in nature. In 2019, the IPCC was predicting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of climate change was appearing out of reach, the activist was guiding the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and campaigner another voice was talking about youth feeling “environmental stress”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s book, Wilding, on how they changed the a Sussex location from a unsuccessful dairy farm into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the example, but what was the role for youth?” asks Molly. “So we made a website and called many of environmental organizations and were asking, ‘Do you occasionally get your property owners wishing to make changes and you lack resources?’”
Durant adds the narrative: “Our whole initiative was basically founded on the idea that there were individuals who were ready to let a collection of young enthusiasts on to their property without strict rules, to take major choices that would impact land value
