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That richly complex melody of the nightingale is a rare occurrence in England these days, but it's different at this rural location. Previously, a single bird could be heard at this secluded location in rural Surrey; lately, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them chirping all night, from five different territories,” explains one ecologist, lead ecologist for the eco-activist organization. A team of Youngwilders were staying overnight at the site, yet the nightingales were so noisy, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks a project coordinator. “We were all worn out the next day, but it was so amazing.” An professional from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them trap and mark one of the songbirds the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his possession before. He was teary.”

Ecological Restoration Progresses at the Surrey Site

Ecological restoration is by its very essence a gradual endeavor, but here at this property, after just a short period, the results are already visible, and noticeable. The property previously served as a sanctuary for equines. Now it’s a example for the Youngwilders’ mission: to speed up nature recovery, in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the globe, and to connect the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often ineffectual to prevent. Climate change continues, habitat loss damages natural habitats, and one more Cop summit ends with a disappointing conclusion in the host country – so what person could criticize youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?

The organisation was founded on the notion that there were landowners ready to permit a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their estate

“The youth is the best educated in terms of nature that there’s ever been,” states the group's leader, one organizer. They are also “the highly invested in the issues, and have contributed the minimal role to their origin, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a consequence.”

Change of the Property

Today, the organisation is taking root across the Britain – and this location planted the seed, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and where we created our connections,” says another co-director, as she gives a walkthrough of the expansive property. “This used to be divided plots,” she comments, as we move through tall vegetation filled with shrubs, bordered by established trees. “The key visual change is that we’ve eliminated all the barriers, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a unified landscape.” In the warmer months, they donned special clothing and eradicated large amounts of invasive plants, an invasive species that can irritate the skin. “We’ve introduced numerous of natural barriers,” explains she. “But the primary focus is we’ve just let it breathe for a little bit. We’ve removed a significant amount of animal feeding and noticed what’s come up.”

Low scrub and hedgerows are a ideal nightingale environment, she explains, although today they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to develop a more range of habitats and to connect two parts of the land. New trees will take a while to grow, but new growth from the surrounding woodland are already establishing themselves in the meadows; the crew have been installing protectors to safeguard them from animals.

Wildlife Reappears in Large Numbers

There's more than the nightingales – fauna is coming back in large numbers. This year they’ve observed serpents, slowworms, flyers and bugs, explains a team member, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (such as a mat over a depression in the earth). “You get reptiles and things sheltering under there, but it’s probably a somewhat cool for them now.” Wild beehives, built using carved parts of wood and humming with pollinators, are attached to some of the woodland. The lack of animals has provided insects room to flourish in the overgrown areas. When they came to this summer, states he, “I’d not once seen so many lepidoptera. There were just swarms of them. We were wondering, ‘What is occurring?’”

Origins of the Movement

The initial participants – Bennett, Durant, Easton and more individuals – came together as youth, studying or expressing an interest in ecology. In that year, the IPCC was predicting that the target of one and a half degrees of climate change was appearing unachievable, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the demonstrations for climate movement, and activist Clover Hogan was talking about the generation experiencing “environmental stress”. It was also the era of a writer's book, Wilding, on how they transformed the a Sussex location from a failing agricultural business into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were deeply influenced by the case study, but what could be the function for youth?” questions Molly. “So we created a website and contacted numerous of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your landowners seeking to do something and you lack time?’”

Durant continues the narrative: “Our whole project was basically founded on the belief that there were individuals who were ready to allow a collection of youthful enthusiasts on to their land freely, to make significant decisions that would change land value