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The richly complex song of the songbird is a rare presence in the UK nowadays, yet it's different at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a single bird could be heard at this remote place in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from multiple areas,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A team of volunteers were camping out at the location, 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 cool.” An professional from the regional nature organization came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never touched a songbird in his hands before. He was emotional.”

Habitat Revival Progresses at This Location

Nature recovery is by nature a lengthy process, but in this place at this property, after merely several seasons, the changes are already visible, and hearable. The land was once a haven for horses. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished countries in the globe, and to link youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often ineffectual to stop. Global heating continues, tree clearing destroys ecosystems, and one more climate conference draws to a unsatisfactory end in abroad – so who could fault the younger generation for choosing to initiate change themselves?

Our organisation was based on the belief that there were individuals ready to allow a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their estate

“The younger generation is the most informed ecologically that there’s historically,” states the group's founder, a key figure. They are also “the deeply concerned in the issues, and have added the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a outcome.”

Revitalization of the Property

Now, the organisation is expanding across the UK – and this location planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s where we started, and where we built our connections,” notes a founding member, as she gives a tour of the 30-acre land. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we walk through long grass dotted with low scrub, hemmed by mature woodland. “The primary noticeable difference is that we’ve eliminated all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like a unified landscape.” In the warmer months, they used hazmat suits and cleared significant quantities of harmful weeds, an aggressive flora that can burn the skin. “We’ve introduced many of natural barriers,” notes Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just given it space for a short time. We’ve eliminated a lot of animal feeding and observed what’s sprung up.”

Underbrush and shrub lines are a ideal nightingale home, she explains, however now they’re trimming some of the brambles to develop a more range of ecosystems and to connect different sections of the land. New trees will take a while to take root, but young trees from the nearby trees are already establishing themselves in the meadows; the group have been installing barriers to protect them from grazing deer.

Animals Returns in Large Numbers

It’s not just the songbirds – wildlife is returning in droves. This year they’ve seen serpents, slowworms, bats and bugs, explains another co-director, as he raises one of their reptile mats (like a cover over a indentation in the soil). “You find snakes and animals hiding under there, but it’s possibly a bit chilly for them now.” Wild homes, constructed from carved parts of timber and buzzing with pollinators, are strapped to some of the woodland. The lack of animals has given invertebrates room to thrive in the long grass. When they explored this time, states the director, “I’d not once encountered so countless butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is going on?’”

Origins of the Project

The original Youngwilders – Noah, Jack, Molly and more individuals – formed as youth, studying or sharing an concern in nature. In that year, the climate experts was indicating that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of global heating was looking impossible, the activist was spearheading the demonstrations for eco-awareness, and advocate a speaker was addressing young people feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the time of the author's work, on rewilding, on how the authors transformed the a nearby property from a unsuccessful agricultural business into a successful ecosystem. “We were highly motivated by the example, but what was the role for young people?” asks Easton. “So we created a online presence and rang up loads of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your property owners wishing to take action and you don’t have resources?’”

Durant continues the narrative: “Our entire project was essentially founded on the idea that there were individuals who were ready to allow a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their land freely, to make significant decisions that would affect land value