The manically melodic melody of the nightingale is a uncommon presence in Britain today, but not at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a lone bird could be detected at this hidden spot in the countryside of Surrey; recently, they were all around. “We were hearing them calling all night, from multiple areas,” says a lead scientist, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A team of Youngwilders were residing temporarily at the property, but the nightingales were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so cool.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them capture and tag one of the birds the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never handled a songbird in his hands before. He was emotional.”
Ecological Restoration Accelerates at This Location
Ecological restoration is by its very essence a gradual process, but here at this property, after only a short period, the changes are already visible, and noticeable. The land used to be a sanctuary for equines. Currently it’s a model for the youth-led goal: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the planet, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often denied access to, and a climate crisis they are often unable to stop. Rising temperatures advances, tree clearing destroys wildlife homes, and one more climate conference comes to a unsatisfactory conclusion in the host country – so what person could criticize the younger generation for wishing to act independently?
The organisation was premised on the idea that there were landowners willing to let a group of young idiots on to their property
“The younger generation is the best educated environmentally that there’s historically,” says the group's co-director, Jack Durant. They are also “the highly invested in the challenges, and have added the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a consequence.”
Change of the Site
Currently, the group is taking root across the Britain – and the original site started it all, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and the place we created our community,” explains a founding member, as she gives a walkthrough of the 12-hectare land. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we walk through long grass dotted with bushes, hemmed by mature woodland. “The primary noticeable transformation is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, a significant length of it, to create the impression like a single area.” In the recent season, they wore hazmat suits and eradicated significant quantities of harmful weeds, an non-native plant that can harm the skin. “We’ve planted many of hedgerows,” notes the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve reduced a significant amount of grazing pressure and seen what’s emerged.”
Underbrush and hedgerows are a perfect nightingale environment, she comments, however now they’re managing some of the thorny plants to establish a more diversity of habitats and to connect separate areas of the site. Fresh plantings will take much more time to take root, but young trees from the nearby woodland are already establishing themselves in the fields; the team have been setting up barriers to shield them from grazing deer.
Wildlife Comes Back in Abundance
It’s not just the nightingales – wildlife is returning in abundance. This year they’ve spotted reptiles, creatures, bats and bugs, explains a team member, as he raises one of their monitoring tools (similar to a cover over a depression in the soil). “You find creatures and wildlife residing under there, but it’s likely a bit cold for them now.” Wild homes, built using carved pieces of wood and humming with pollinators, are fixed to some of the woodland. The lack of animals has provided small creatures room to thrive in the long grass. When they visited this season, comments the director, “I’d never observed so many insects. There were just masses of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Beginnings of the Project
The original Youngwilders – Noah, Durant, Easton and additional members – came together as youth, focusing on or sharing an interest in environmental science. In that year, the IPCC was forecasting that the safe limit of 1.5C of global heating was looking impossible, the activist was spearheading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and activist a speaker was discussing young people feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s book, Wilding, on how she and her husband changed the a nearby property from a unsuccessful agricultural business into a successful ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what was the role for young people?” says Easton. “So we created a platform and called loads of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you sometimes get your landowners wanting to make changes and you are short on resources?’”
Jack continues the narrative: “Our complete organisation was basically based on the notion that there were landowners who were willing to let a bunch of young idiots on to their land freely, to make major actions that would change land value
