The manically melodic song of the nightingale is a rare presence in the UK nowadays, however not at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a single bird could be noticed at this hidden place in the countryside of Surrey; recently, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them singing all night, from five different territories,” says one ecologist, top biologist for the Youngwilders. A team of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the location, yet the birds were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” comments an engagement lead. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them net and ring one of the nightingales the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his hands before. He was teary.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at This Location
Rewilding is by its very essence a gradual business, but at this site at the farm, after just four years, the results are already evident, and audible. The land used to be a retirement home for animals. Now it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the planet, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to prevent. Rising temperatures advances, deforestation destroys ecosystems, and another climate conference comes to a frustrating end in abroad – so who could blame youth for choosing to initiate change themselves?
The project was premised on the idea that there were people ready to let a collection of youthful amateurs on to their land
“The younger generation is the best educated environmentally that there’s ever been,” says the group's leader, a key figure. They are also “the highly invested in the problems, and have added the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a consequence.”
Change of the Site
Currently, the group is taking root across the United Kingdom – and the original site started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s our origin point, and the place we created our community,” explains Molly Easton, as she offers a overview of the 12-hectare property. “This was previously six different fields,” she says, as we stroll through overgrown meadows featuring shrubs, bordered by established trees. “The main visual difference is that we’ve removed all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like a unified environment.” In the warmer months, they used special clothing and eradicated masses of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can burn the flesh. “We’ve planted loads of bush lines,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a lot of animal feeding and seen what’s emerged.”
Bushes and hedgerows are a ideal songbird environment, she says, although now they’re trimming some of the brambles to establish a more variety of ecosystems and to join separate areas of the property. Young saplings will take a while to grow, but new growth from the surrounding oaks are already growing in the meadows; the crew have been placing guards to shield them from animals.
Wildlife Returns in Droves
There's more than the nightingales – fauna is coming back in large numbers. This year they’ve observed serpents, slowworms, flyers and bugs, says a team member, as he lifts up one of their monitoring tools (such as a doormat over a depression in the earth). “You discover reptiles and animals hiding under there, but it’s likely a bit cold for them now.” Wild nests, built using carved parts of wood and buzzing with wild bees, are strapped to some of the plants. The lack of livestock has given small creatures space to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they explored this time, comments Bennett, “I’d not once encountered so many lepidoptera. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is occurring?’”
Origins of the Project
The original founders – Bennett, Durant, Molly and more individuals – united as students, studying or expressing an passion in ecology. In the recent past, the IPCC was predicting that the target of 1.5C of warming was appearing unachievable, Greta Thunberg was leading the school strikes for environmental action, and campaigner Clover Hogan was talking about young people suffering from “eco-worry”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s work, Wilding, on how she and her husband transformed the a nearby property from a struggling farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what could be the part for youth?” questions Easton. “So we developed a website and called many of wildlife trusts and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders wanting to take action and you don’t have resources?’”
Durant adds the account: “Our complete organisation was essentially premised on the belief that there were individuals who were prepared to let a collection of youthful idiots on to their property indiscriminately, to take fairly massive decisions that would affect land value
