The beautifully intricate call of the songbird is a scarce presence in the UK nowadays, but it's different at the Surrey site. Four years ago, a lone nightingale could be detected at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; lately, they were all around. “We were hearing them singing all night, from multiple areas,” says Meg Cookson, top biologist for the eco-activist organization. A team of Youngwilders were camping out at the site, yet the birds were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so cool.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the birds the next morning, Cookson states: “He’d never held a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”
Habitat Revival Accelerates at This Location
Nature recovery is by definition a lengthy process, but in this place at this property, after only four years, the changes are already apparent, and audible. The property used to be a retirement home for horses. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to accelerate habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor nations in the globe, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a global warming issue they are often unable to stop. Rising temperatures continues, tree clearing destroys natural habitats, and one more climate conference ends with a unsatisfactory end in abroad – so who could blame young people for wanting to act independently?
Our project was premised on the notion that there were individuals ready to allow a collection of youthful idiots on to their estate
“The newer cohort is the most informed environmentally that there’s ever been,” states the Youngwilders’ founder, Jack Durant. They are also “the highly invested in the problems, and have played the least to their causing, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the worst as a result.”
Revitalization of the Landscape
Now, the initiative is taking root across the UK – and the original site planted the seed, in multiple ways. “It’s our origin point, and the place we established our community,” notes a founding member, as she gives a walkthrough of the 30-acre property. “This once consisted of six different fields,” she says, as we move through overgrown meadows filled with shrubs, bordered by established trees. “The main noticeable change is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like a single landscape.” In the warmer months, they used hazmat suits and cleared large amounts of invasive plants, an non-native plant that can harm the body. “We’ve introduced loads of bush lines,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a little bit. We’ve reduced a significant amount of grazing pressure and observed what’s come up.”
Underbrush and natural fences are a ideal nightingale home, she comments, however currently they’re cutting back some of the brambles to create a more diversity of habitats and to join two parts of the property. Fresh plantings will take considerably longer to establish, but saplings from the surrounding woodland are already growing in the meadows; the crew have been placing guards to shield them from wildlife.
Nature Comes Back in Large Numbers
In addition to the nightingales – wildlife is coming back in droves. This year they’ve spotted serpents, creatures, flyers and bugs, says Noah Bennett, as he lifts up one of their reptile mats (such as a cover over a small hollow in the soil). “You discover creatures and wildlife residing under there, but it’s likely a bit cool for them now.” Natural nests, made from hollowed-out sections of wood and active with pollinators, are attached to some of the plants. The lack of animals has provided insects opportunity to prosper in the overgrown areas. When they explored this summer, says Bennett, “I’d not ever observed so many butterflies. There were just masses of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”
Origins of the Movement
The original participants – Bennett, Jack, Molly and two others – came together as students, studying or expressing an concern in nature. In that year, the IPCC was indicating that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of climate change was appearing impossible, a prominent figure was leading the youth protests for environmental action, and advocate a speaker was talking about the generation feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the period of a writer's book, on rewilding, on how the authors revitalized the Knepp Estate from a failing dairy farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the example, but what could be the role for the next generation?” questions Molly. “So we developed a online presence and contacted loads of environmental organizations and were saying, ‘Do you ever get your estate holders seeking to take action and you are short on resources?’”
Durant explains the account: “Our whole project was essentially premised on the idea that there were landowners who were prepared to let a bunch of youthful idiots on to their property without strict rules, to take significant actions that would change land value
