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The manically melodic melody of the songbird is a uncommon sound in the UK nowadays, but not at the Surrey site. Previously, a solitary bird could be noticed at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from several zones,” notes a lead scientist, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of Youngwilders were camping out at the property, but the nightingales were so loud, “we stayed awake 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 net and ring one of the nightingales the next morning, the ecologist remembers: “He’d never handled a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”

Ecological Restoration Accelerates at the Surrey Site

Ecological restoration is by definition a slow business, but at this site at the farm, after only several seasons, the outcomes are already evident, and hearable. The property used to be a retirement home for horses. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to hasten nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished regions in the planet, and to connect youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a climate crisis they are often powerless to stop. Global heating persists, deforestation damages ecosystems, and yet another international meeting comes to a disappointing outcome in the host country – so what person could fault youth for wanting to act independently?

The organisation was premised on the notion that there were individuals willing to let a group of young enthusiasts on to their land

“The younger generation is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s historically,” says the group's leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the highly invested in the issues, and have contributed the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to suffer most as a consequence.”

Change of the Property

Now, the organisation is expanding across the Britain – and this location started it all, in all respects. “It’s where we started, and where we built our connections,” notes a founding member, as she offers a tour of the 30-acre property. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she states, as we walk through long grass dotted with shrubs, hemmed by established trees. “The main noticeable difference is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, a significant length of it, to give the sense like one landscape.” In the summer, they used protective gear and cleared significant quantities of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can harm the flesh. “We’ve introduced loads of natural barriers,” notes she. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve reduced a significant amount of livestock impact and seen what’s emerged.”

Low scrub and shrub lines are a ideal nightingale habitat, she explains, however currently they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to develop a greater range of environments and to connect two parts of the site. New trees will take considerably longer to establish, but saplings from the surrounding woodland are already establishing themselves in the fields; the crew have been setting up guards to safeguard them from grazing deer.

Wildlife Comes Back in Abundance

It’s not just the nightingales – animals is coming back in droves. Lately they’ve seen grass snakes, creatures, flyers and bugs, notes Noah Bennett, as he raises one of their reptile mats (such as a doormat over a depression in the soil). “You find creatures and things hiding under there, but it’s possibly a bit cool for them now.” Natural beehives, built using carved pieces of wood and active with wild bees, are strapped to some of the plants. The absence of livestock has allowed small creatures opportunity to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they visited this time, says the director, “I’d not once encountered so countless butterflies. There were just swarms of them. We were like, ‘What is happening?’”

Beginnings of the Movement

The initial founders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and additional members – came together as learners, focusing on or having an concern in nature. In that year, the IPCC was predicting that the safe limit of 1.5C of global heating was seeming out of reach, a prominent figure was guiding the youth protests for environmental action, and activist a speaker was discussing young people suffering from “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of the author's publication, on rewilding, on how they revitalized the a nearby property from a struggling dairy farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the Knepp story, but what was the function for young people?” asks Molly. “So we developed a website and rang up many of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders seeking to do something and you are short on capacity?’”

Durant explains the story: “Our complete project was basically founded on the notion that there were people who were willing to permit a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their property without strict rules, to decide on fairly massive actions that would impact land value