The beautifully intricate song of the songbird is a scarce presence in the UK nowadays, yet not at the Surrey site. Back in 2020, a lone bird could be heard at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; lately, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them singing all night, from multiple areas,” explains a lead scientist, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of participants were residing temporarily at the site, yet the nightingales were so loud, “we were unable to rest all night,” says an engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist recalls: “He’d never held a nightingale in his possession before. He was teary.”
Ecological Restoration Speeds Up at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by its very essence a lengthy endeavor, but in this place at this property, after just a short period, the outcomes are already visible, and audible. The land was once a retirement home for horses. Now it’s a example for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the globe, and to connect youth (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often denied access to, and a global warming issue they are often unable to stop. Global heating advances, tree clearing damages natural habitats, and another climate conference draws to a frustrating end in Brazil – so what person could blame youth for wishing to take matters into their own hands?
Our organisation was founded on the notion that there were people willing to let a bunch of young amateurs on to their estate
“The younger generation is the most informed ecologically that there’s previously,” says the group's founder, Jack Durant. They are also “the highly invested in the problems, and have played the least to their creation, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a result.”
Change of the Landscape
Now, the organisation is taking root across the UK – and the original site planted the seed, in all respects. “It’s the initial project, and where we created our connections,” notes Molly Easton, as she gives a tour of the 30-acre site. “This once consisted of divided plots,” she says, as we walk through long grass filled with bushes, hemmed by mature woodland. “The main visible change is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, a significant length of it, to make it feel like one environment.” In the recent season, they donned protective gear and removed large amounts of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can burn the body. “We’ve established many of natural barriers,” says Easton. “But the primary focus is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a little bit. We’ve reduced a significant amount of grazing pressure and seen what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and natural fences are a excellent nightingale habitat, she says, although today they’re trimming some of the wild growth to develop a greater diversity of environments and to connect separate areas of the site. Young saplings will take a while to grow, but young trees from the adjacent trees are already establishing themselves in the meadows; the group have been installing barriers to shield them from grazing deer.
Animals Comes Back in Abundance
There's more than the songbirds – wildlife is coming back in large numbers. Lately they’ve observed reptiles, legless lizards, nocturnal mammals and insects, explains Noah Bennett, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (similar to a mat over a depression in the ground). “You find snakes and things hiding under there, but it’s possibly a bit chilly for them now.” Organic beehives, built using carved pieces of wood and buzzing with wild bees, are strapped to some of the woodland. The removal of animals has allowed small creatures space to prosper in the long grass. When they explored this time, states Bennett, “I’d not once encountered so countless lepidoptera. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is going on?’”
Inception of the Initiative
The first participants – Noah, Jack, Molly and two others – united as youth, studying or having an interest in environmental science. In the recent past, the IPCC was forecasting that the safe limit of 1.5C of climate change was appearing out of reach, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the school strikes for climate movement, and advocate another voice was talking about the generation feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the era of the author's book, Wilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a struggling dairy farm into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what could be the role for the next generation?” asks Easton. “So we made a platform and contacted loads of conservation groups and were like, ‘Do you ever get your estate holders wanting to take action and you are short on capacity?’”
Durant continues the story: “Our entire organisation was basically based on the notion that there were individuals who were ready to allow a group of young idiots on to their estate without strict rules, to decide on significant decisions that would affect land value
