That beautifully intricate song of the songbird is a uncommon presence in the UK nowadays, however it's different at this rural location. Previously, a solitary bird could be noticed at this hidden place in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from several zones,” says Meg Cookson, chief environmental expert for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were residing temporarily at the site, however the birds were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says Layla Mapemba. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the local conservation group came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never held a nightingale in his hands before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Progresses at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by nature a slow endeavor, but here at this property, after just a short period, the changes are already apparent, and audible. The land used to be a haven for animals. Now it’s a showpiece for the youth-led purpose: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the globe, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often shut out of, and a global warming issue they are often unable to prevent. Global heating persists, habitat loss eliminates wildlife homes, and yet another climate conference comes to a frustrating outcome in the host country – so who could fault youth for choosing to initiate change themselves?
Our initiative was based on the belief that there were landowners ready to let a group of youthful amateurs on to their land
“The younger generation is the best educated ecologically that there’s previously,” says the Youngwilders’ co-director, Jack Durant. They are also “the highly invested in the challenges, and have played the minimal role to their origin, and, then, are also going to suffer the worst as a consequence.”
Change of the Landscape
Currently, the organisation is taking root across the UK – and this location planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and the place we established our network,” says a founding member, as she gives a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she states, as we walk through tall vegetation filled with low scrub, bordered by mature woodland. “The key noticeable transformation is that we’ve removed all the enclosures, over a kilometer of it, to create the impression like one area.” In the warmer months, they wore hazmat suits and removed significant quantities of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can burn the body. “We’ve planted numerous of bush lines,” explains Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a short time. We’ve removed a large part of grazing pressure and noticed what’s sprung up.”
Low scrub and shrub lines are a perfect songbird environment, she says, however currently they’re cutting back some of the thorny plants to establish a more range of habitats and to link up separate areas of the land. Young saplings will take considerably longer to take root, but saplings from the surrounding trees are already taking root in the meadows; the team have been setting up protectors to protect them from animals.
Wildlife Comes Back in Abundance
There's more than the nightingales – animals is returning in abundance. This year they’ve seen serpents, creatures, bats and insects, notes Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their monitoring tools (similar to a doormat over a indentation in the earth). “You discover reptiles and wildlife hiding under there, but it’s likely a slightly chilly for them now.” Wild homes, made from empty pieces of timber and active with insects, are attached to some of the plants. The removal of animals has given small creatures space to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they came to this time, says the director, “I’d not ever observed so many butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is happening?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The original founders – Noah, Jack, Molly and two others – formed as learners, pursuing or sharing an passion in ecology. In 2019, the climate experts was indicating that the target of one and a half degrees of climate change was looking out of reach, a prominent figure was leading the school strikes for climate movement, and activist a speaker was addressing youth feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the period of the author's publication, Wilding, on how the authors transformed the Knepp Estate from a failing farm into a flourishing ecosystem. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what was the function for young people?” questions Easton. “So we made a website and called loads of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you sometimes get your landowners wanting to make changes and you lack time?’”
Jack adds the story: “Our whole initiative was fundamentally founded on the idea that there were individuals who were willing to let a bunch of youthful idiots on to their estate without strict rules, to make fairly massive actions that would affect land value
