The manically melodic song of the songbird is a uncommon sound in Britain today, however it's different at this rural location. Previously, a solitary bird could be heard at this hidden location in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them singing all night, from multiple areas,” explains a lead scientist, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A band of Youngwilders were staying overnight at the property, but the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks an engagement lead. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the regional nature organization came to help them capture and tag one of the birds the next morning, Cookson remembers: “He’d never touched a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Rewilding Accelerates at the Surrey Site
Ecological restoration is by nature a gradual business, but at this site at this property, after only several seasons, the changes are already visible, and audible. The property used to be a sanctuary for animals. Now it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the biodiversity-poor nations in the world, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often powerless to prevent. Climate change continues, habitat loss damages natural habitats, and yet another international meeting ends with a disappointing end in Brazil – so what person could blame young people for choosing to take matters into their own hands?
The initiative was based on the belief that there were landowners ready to let a group of young idiots on to their property
“The youth is the most informed ecologically that there’s previously,” states the group's co-director, one organizer. They are also “the deeply concerned in the challenges, and have played the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a result.”
Change of the Site
Currently, the group is taking root across the Britain – and the original site planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s where we started, and where we created our connections,” says another co-director, as she provides a tour of the 12-hectare land. “This was previously divided plots,” she comments, as we move through long grass featuring shrubs, bordered by forest. “The key visual change is that we’ve taken out all the enclosures, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a unified environment.” In the warmer months, they used hazmat suits and cleared masses of harmful weeds, an invasive species that can irritate the flesh. “We’ve established loads of bush lines,” says she. “But the primary focus is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a large part of livestock impact and seen what’s come up.”
Underbrush and natural fences are a ideal nightingale environment, she says, however currently they’re cutting back some of the brambles to develop a greater variety of ecosystems and to join separate areas of the site. New trees will take much more time to establish, but saplings from the adjacent oaks are already growing in the meadows; the crew have been placing protectors to protect them from animals.
Wildlife Comes Back in Large Numbers
In addition to the songbirds – fauna is returning in droves. Recently they’ve observed serpents, legless lizards, bats and invertebrates, says a team member, as he raises one of their monitoring tools (similar to a cover over a small hollow in the soil). “You find creatures and animals residing under there, but it’s possibly a bit cold for them now.” Natural beehives, constructed from empty pieces of timber and buzzing with pollinators, are fixed to some of the trees. The removal of grazing horses has provided small creatures room to thrive in the long grass. When they visited this summer, states he, “I’d not once encountered so countless lepidoptera. There were just clouds of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”
Beginnings of the Movement
The initial Youngwilders – Bennett, Jack, Easton and additional members – came together as learners, focusing on or expressing an passion in ecology. In that year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of warming was looking impossible, a prominent figure was leading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and campaigner Clover Hogan was discussing young people feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the time of the author's book, on rewilding, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a struggling agricultural business into a flourishing ecosystem. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what was the function for young people?” says Easton. “So we developed a platform and called numerous of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you ever get your property owners wishing to do something and you are short on time?’”
Jack continues the story: “Our entire project was basically founded on the idea that there were landowners who were willing to allow a group of young enthusiasts on to their property indiscriminately, to decide on fairly massive actions that would change land value
