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That richly complex song of the nightingale is a scarce presence in England these days, but not at the Surrey site. Previously, a single bird could be noticed at this hidden place in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were in multiple locations. “We were listening to them singing all night, from five different territories,” says one ecologist, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A group of volunteers were staying overnight at the site, but the birds were so loud, “we stayed awake all night,” remarks Layla Mapemba. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so amazing.” An professional from the regional nature organization came to help them trap and mark one of the birds the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never handled a songbird in his care before. He was emotional.”

Rewilding Speeds Up at the Surrey Site

Nature recovery is by definition a slow endeavor, but here at the farm, after only four years, the results are already visible, and hearable. The farm previously served as a sanctuary for equines. Now it’s a example for the Youngwilders’ goal: to speed up nature recovery, in one of the ecologically impoverished nations in the world, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often unable to halt. Climate change persists, deforestation damages natural habitats, and yet another Cop summit draws to a unsatisfactory conclusion in Brazil – so who could criticize youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?

The project was founded on the belief that there were people prepared to allow a bunch of youthful idiots on to their land

“The youth is the most knowledgeable environmentally that there’s ever been,” says the Youngwilders’ founder, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have added the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a outcome.”

Change of the Site

Currently, the group is taking root across the Britain – and the original site was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s where we started, and where we created our connections,” notes a founding member, as she gives a tour of the 12-hectare land. “This was previously divided plots,” she says, as we walk through long grass filled with low scrub, surrounded by established trees. “The main noticeable change is that we’ve taken out all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to give the sense like a unified area.” In the recent season, they wore protective gear and removed masses of harmful weeds, an aggressive flora that can burn the skin. “We’ve established loads of hedgerows,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just given it space for a brief period. We’ve eliminated a large part of animal feeding and seen what’s sprung up.”

Bushes and natural fences are a excellent songbird habitat, she says, however now they’re cutting back some of the wild growth to establish a more range of ecosystems and to join two parts of the site. Young saplings will take much more time to grow, but new growth from the nearby woodland are already growing in the fields; the team have been setting up guards to protect them from grazing deer.

Animals Returns in Droves

In addition to the songbirds – fauna is returning in abundance. Recently they’ve spotted reptiles, creatures, nocturnal mammals and insects, explains Noah Bennett, as he raises one of their survey equipment (similar to a doormat over a depression in the earth). “You discover creatures and things hiding under there, but it’s likely a somewhat cool for them now.” Organic beehives, made from hollowed-out sections of timber and humming with wild bees, are strapped to some of the woodland. The absence of grazing horses has provided invertebrates space to prosper in the long grass. When they explored this time, comments Bennett, “I’d not once observed so countless lepidoptera. There were just clouds of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”

Beginnings of the Initiative

The initial Youngwilders – Noah, Jack, Easton and two others – came together as students, studying or having an interest in environmental science. In that year, the IPCC was predicting that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of global heating was looking impossible, the activist was spearheading the demonstrations for climate movement, and activist another voice was talking about the generation experiencing “eco-worry”. It was also the time of Isabella Tree’s book, on rewilding, on how she and her husband changed the Knepp Estate from a unsuccessful agricultural business into a flourishing wildlife haven. “We were super-inspired by the Knepp story, but what was the part for youth?” says Molly. “So we created a online presence and contacted numerous of conservation groups and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your property owners wishing to make changes and you don’t have time?’”

Jack adds the story: “Our entire organisation was basically founded on the notion that there were landowners who were willing to allow a group of young enthusiasts on to their land indiscriminately, to make fairly massive choices that would impact land value