That beautifully intricate call of the nightingale is a uncommon occurrence in Britain these days, however not at this rural location. Previously, a solitary nightingale could be heard at this secluded place in rural Surrey; recently, they were all around. “We were hearing them singing all night, from five different territories,” notes one ecologist, top biologist for the youth rewilding group. A group of volunteers were staying overnight at the property, however the birds were so loud, “we were unable to rest all night,” comments a project coordinator. “We were all exhausted the next day, but it was so cool.” An specialist from the local conservation group came to help them net and ring one of the songbirds the next morning, the ecologist remembers: “He’d never handled a songbird in his hands before. He was crying.”
Ecological Restoration Progresses at the Surrey Site
Rewilding is by nature a lengthy process, but here at the farm, after just a short period, the results are already apparent, and hearable. The land previously served as a haven for animals. Now it’s a model for the youth-led goal: to speed up ecological restoration, in one of the most nature-depleted regions in the planet, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a environmental emergency they are often powerless to stop. Climate change persists, habitat loss damages natural habitats, and another Cop summit draws to a unsatisfactory conclusion in abroad – so who could fault youth for wanting to initiate change themselves?
Our initiative was founded on the idea that there were people prepared to permit a collection of youthful idiots on to their estate
“The newer cohort is the most informed environmentally that there’s previously,” says the group's leader, Jack Durant. They are also “the deeply concerned in the problems, and have played the least to their origin, and, then, are also going to experience consequences the greatest as a result.”
Transformation of the Landscape
Currently, the organisation is taking root across the UK – and this location was the beginning, in every sense. “It’s the initial project, and the place we built our connections,” explains Molly Easton, as she gives a walkthrough of the 30-acre land. “This once consisted of multiple separate areas,” she comments, as we move through long grass filled with bushes, bordered by established trees. “The primary visible change is that we’ve eliminated all the enclosures, over a kilometer of it, to give the sense like a unified environment.” In the summer, they wore hazmat suits and cleared masses of invasive plants, an non-native plant that can harm the skin. “We’ve planted loads of bush lines,” says the director. “But the main thing is we’ve just allowed it to rest for a little bit. We’ve eliminated a lot of livestock impact and noticed what’s emerged.”
Low scrub and shrub lines are a perfect nightingale environment, she comments, however currently they’re cutting back some of the wild growth to create a greater range of environments and to join two parts of the land. New trees will take much more time to take root, but saplings from the adjacent woodland are already taking root in the fields; the crew have been setting up guards to shield them from wildlife.
Nature Returns in Droves
It’s not just the songbirds – animals is returning in abundance. This year they’ve spotted reptiles, legless lizards, bats and insects, notes another co-director, as he uncovers one of their survey equipment (like a mat over a small hollow in the earth). “You find snakes and wildlife hiding under there, but it’s possibly a bit cold for them now.” Natural beehives, built using empty parts of timber and buzzing with insects, are strapped to some of the woodland. The lack of grazing horses has allowed small creatures space to flourish in the meadows. When they came to this time, says Bennett, “I’d not once encountered so many insects. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is going on?’”
Inception of the Project
The initial founders – Bennett, Durant, Easton and additional members – came together as students, focusing on or expressing an passion in environmental science. In the recent past, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was indicating that the safe limit of one and a half degrees of climate change was looking unachievable, Greta Thunberg was guiding the youth protests for climate movement, and activist Clover Hogan was talking about young people feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the time of the author's book, about nature recovery, on how they changed the a Sussex location from a failing agricultural business into a successful wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the example, but what could be the part for young people?” asks Molly. “So we created a website and contacted many of conservation groups and were saying, ‘Do you occasionally get your estate holders wishing to take action and you lack resources?’”
Jack continues the story: “Our complete project was fundamentally based on the notion that there were landowners who were ready to allow a collection of youthful idiots on to their estate indiscriminately, to take significant choices that would change land value
