That manically melodic call of the nightingale is a uncommon sound in England today, however not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a solitary bird could be heard at this remote spot in rural Surrey; lately, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them calling all night, from five different territories,” explains Meg Cookson, chief environmental expert for the Youngwilders. A team of Youngwilders were camping out at the property, but the birds were so noisy, “we were unable to rest all night,” comments Layla Mapemba. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so cool.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the birds the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never touched a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Progresses at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by definition a slow endeavor, but here at this property, after only a short period, the changes are already visible, and audible. The farm was once a sanctuary for horses. Today it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to speed up nature recovery, in one of the biodiversity-poor nations in the planet, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often denied access to, and a environmental emergency they are often ineffectual to prevent. Climate change continues, tree clearing damages wildlife homes, and another climate conference draws to a frustrating outcome in Brazil – so who could blame youth for wanting to initiate change themselves?
Our initiative was based on the notion that there were landowners prepared to let a collection of young amateurs on to their land
“The youth is the best educated ecologically that there’s historically,” explains the Youngwilders’ co-director, one organizer. They are also “the highly invested in the issues, and have contributed the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a result.”
Revitalization of the Property
Today, the group is expanding across the United Kingdom – and the original site planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and where we established our connections,” says another co-director, as she provides a tour of the 30-acre property. “This was previously divided plots,” she says, as we stroll through overgrown meadows featuring low scrub, bordered by established trees. “The key noticeable change is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a single area.” In the recent season, they used hazmat suits and removed significant quantities of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can irritate the skin. “We’ve introduced many of natural barriers,” explains Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve reduced a large part of livestock impact and seen what’s sprung up.”
Low scrub and shrub lines are a perfect songbird environment, she explains, however currently they’re cutting back some of the thorny plants to establish a more diversity of environments and to connect different sections of the site. Young saplings will take considerably longer to establish, but young trees from the surrounding woodland are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the group have been installing guards to shield them from wildlife.
Wildlife Returns in Droves
There's more than the nightingales – wildlife is returning in droves. This year they’ve spotted reptiles, creatures, flyers and invertebrates, says another co-director, as he raises one of their survey equipment (such as a mat over a indentation in the earth). “You find reptiles and things sheltering under there, but it’s possibly a slightly chilly for them now.” Organic homes, made from carved sections of timber and buzzing with wild bees, are fixed to some of the trees. The removal of grazing horses has allowed invertebrates opportunity to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they explored this time, comments Bennett, “I’d not ever observed so numerous insects. There were just swarms of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”
Inception of the Initiative
The first Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and two others – came together as youth, focusing on or having an interest in environmental science. In that year, the climate experts was forecasting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of climate change was seeming out of reach, a prominent figure was spearheading the youth protests for environmental action, and advocate another voice was talking about youth suffering from “climate anxiety”. It was also the era of the author's work, on rewilding, on how they revitalized the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful farm into a thriving natural habitat. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what was the role for youth?” asks Molly. “So we created a online presence and contacted many of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you sometimes get your property owners seeking to make changes and you are short on resources?’”
Durant adds the narrative: “Our whole project was essentially premised on the notion that there were individuals who were willing to permit a bunch of young amateurs on to their property indiscriminately, to make significant actions that would impact land value
