That richly complex call of the songbird is a uncommon presence in England these days, yet it's different at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a single nightingale could be detected at this remote location in the countryside of Surrey; lately, they were all around. “We were hearing them chirping all night, from five different territories,” explains one ecologist, chief environmental expert for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were staying overnight at the site, however the nightingales were so boisterous, “we stayed awake all night,” says Layla Mapemba. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the songbirds the next morning, Cookson remembers: “He’d never handled a nightingale in his care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by nature a gradual process, but at this site at the farm, after only a short period, the changes are already evident, and audible. The farm was once a haven for horses. Today it’s a showpiece for the youth-led mission: to hasten habitat revival, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the planet, and to link young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often denied access to, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to halt. Rising temperatures continues, deforestation damages natural habitats, and another international meeting ends with a unsatisfactory conclusion in abroad – so who could fault the younger generation for wanting to initiate change themselves?
The initiative was based on the idea that there were individuals ready to allow a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their estate
“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable ecologically that there’s ever been,” explains the Youngwilders’ leader, a key figure. They are also “the highly invested in the problems, and have played the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a result.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Now, the organisation is expanding across the Britain – and this location started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and the place we built our connections,” notes a founding member, as she provides a overview of the 12-hectare property. “This used to be divided plots,” she states, as we stroll through long grass featuring shrubs, hemmed by forest. “The primary visible difference is that we’ve eliminated all the fencing, over a kilometer of it, to make it feel like a single landscape.” In the recent season, they wore special clothing and removed large amounts of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can irritate the body. “We’ve established numerous of bush lines,” notes Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve eliminated a significant amount of animal feeding and observed what’s come up.”
Underbrush and shrub lines are a ideal songbird habitat, she comments, however currently they’re trimming some of the wild growth to create a more range of ecosystems and to link up separate areas of the site. Fresh plantings will take much more time to establish, but new growth from the adjacent trees are already growing in the fields; the team have been setting up protectors to safeguard them from animals.
Animals Reappears in Droves
It’s not just the songbirds – fauna is returning in abundance. This year they’ve spotted grass snakes, legless lizards, flyers and invertebrates, says another co-director, as he lifts up one of their reptile mats (similar to a cover over a indentation in the earth). “You find snakes and things residing under there, but it’s probably a slightly chilly for them now.” Organic beehives, made from empty parts of wood and humming with pollinators, are strapped to some of the woodland. The absence of animals has allowed invertebrates room to prosper in the meadows. When they visited this season, says the director, “I’d never observed so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The initial participants – Bennett, Durant, Easton and more individuals – formed as youth, studying or expressing an interest in environmental science. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was indicating that the safe limit of 1.5C of warming was seeming out of reach, a prominent figure was guiding the school strikes for climate movement, and advocate Clover Hogan was discussing youth feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of the author's book, about nature recovery, on how the authors revitalized the Knepp Estate from a failing agricultural business into a successful wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the role for youth?” says Molly. “So we made a online presence and rang up loads of conservation groups and were saying, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders wishing to take action and you are short on time?’”
Durant explains the story: “Our complete project was fundamentally premised on the belief that there were landowners who were prepared to let a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their land freely, to take significant choices that would impact land value
