The beautifully intricate melody of the nightingale is a uncommon occurrence in England today, but not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single bird could be heard at this secluded location in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from several zones,” explains Meg Cookson, chief environmental expert for the eco-activist organization. A band of volunteers were camping out at the property, however the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says an engagement lead. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the regional nature organization came to help them net and ring one of the nightingales the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his possession before. He was emotional.”
Habitat Revival Progresses at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by definition a lengthy process, but here at the farm, after merely a short period, the changes are already visible, and noticeable. The farm was once a retirement home for equines. Now it’s a showpiece for the youth-led goal: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the biodiversity-poor 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 powerless to prevent. Climate change continues, tree clearing damages natural habitats, and one more climate conference ends with a disappointing conclusion in abroad – so who could fault young people for choosing to act independently?
The organisation was premised on the idea that there were people prepared to allow a group of young idiots on to their property
“The youth is the most informed environmentally that there’s previously,” states the Youngwilders’ leader, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their origin, and, then, are also going to suffer the greatest as a result.”
Change of the Property
Now, the initiative is taking root across the United Kingdom – and this location was the beginning, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and where we established our connections,” says another co-director, as she offers a overview of the 12-hectare property. “This was previously multiple separate areas,” she says, as we move through long grass dotted with shrubs, bordered by established trees. “The primary noticeable transformation is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the warmer months, they donned protective gear and eradicated large amounts of invasive plants, an aggressive flora that can harm the flesh. “We’ve planted loads of hedgerows,” notes the director. “But the primary focus is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve removed a significant amount of grazing pressure and noticed what’s emerged.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a ideal nightingale environment, she says, however today they’re cutting back some of the brambles to create a greater variety of environments and to link up separate areas of the land. Fresh plantings will take a while to establish, but saplings from the adjacent oaks are already taking root in the meadows; the group have been installing guards to safeguard them from wildlife.
Nature Returns in Large Numbers
There's more than the songbirds – wildlife is reappearing in abundance. Recently they’ve observed grass snakes, creatures, nocturnal mammals and invertebrates, notes another co-director, as he uncovers one of their reptile mats (such as a cover over a small hollow in the soil). “You get snakes and animals hiding under there, but it’s possibly a slightly cool for them now.” Wild homes, made from empty parts of tree trunk and active with wild bees, are fixed to some of the plants. The removal of grazing horses has allowed small creatures opportunity to thrive in the long grass. When they came to this time, comments Bennett, “I’d never encountered so countless insects. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Initiative
The initial Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and additional members – formed as youth, studying or expressing an interest in ecology. In 2019, the climate experts was predicting that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of warming was appearing unachievable, the activist was spearheading the school strikes for climate movement, and advocate a speaker was addressing young people experiencing “environmental stress”. It was also the period of a writer's work, on rewilding, on how the authors changed the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful dairy farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the example, but what was the part for the next generation?” says Easton. “So we developed a online presence and called many of wildlife trusts and were asking, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders wishing to make changes and you don’t have time?’”
Durant explains the narrative: “Our entire initiative was fundamentally founded on the belief that there were individuals who were willing to let a group of young idiots on to their land without strict rules, to decide on major decisions that would change land value
