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The beautifully intricate song of the nightingale is a rare occurrence in England these days, however not at the Surrey site. Previously, a single nightingale could be detected at this secluded location in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were listening to them calling all night, from multiple areas,” says one ecologist, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A group of volunteers were camping out at the property, however the birds were so boisterous, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” remarks an engagement lead. “We were all knackered 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, Cookson states: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his care before. He was teary.”

Ecological Restoration Speeds Up at the Surrey Site

Nature recovery is by its very essence a gradual endeavor, but in this place at Maple Farm, after only a short period, the results are already apparent, and audible. The property used to be a retirement home for horses. Today it’s a model for the Youngwilders’ mission: to speed up habitat revival, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the planet, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often denied access to, and a global warming issue they are often powerless to stop. Rising temperatures continues, tree clearing eliminates wildlife homes, and yet another climate conference ends with a disappointing end in Brazil – so who could criticize youth for wishing to initiate change themselves?

Our organisation was based on the notion that there were individuals prepared to permit a group of young enthusiasts on to their land

“The youth is the most informed ecologically that there’s ever been,” explains the Youngwilders’ co-director, a key figure. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the challenges, and have contributed the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to be affected the greatest as a consequence.”

Transformation of the Property

Today, the initiative is taking root across the UK – and the original site started it all, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and the place we created our community,” says a founding member, as she gives a tour of the expansive site. “This was previously divided plots,” she says, as we walk through long grass dotted with bushes, hemmed by established trees. “The key noticeable difference is that we’ve taken out all the enclosures, a significant length of it, to make it feel like a single environment.” In the warmer months, they wore special clothing and eradicated masses of giant hogweed, an non-native plant that can harm the skin. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” explains Easton. “But the main thing is we’ve just let it breathe for a short time. We’ve eliminated a large part of livestock impact and seen what’s come up.”

Low scrub and shrub lines are a ideal songbird environment, she comments, but now they’re managing some of the wild growth to create a greater diversity of environments and to link up different sections of the land. Young saplings will take a while to establish, but new growth from the nearby woodland are already establishing themselves in the open areas; the crew have been placing protectors to protect them from animals.

Wildlife Returns in Large Numbers

It’s not just the nightingales – fauna is returning in abundance. Recently they’ve spotted serpents, creatures, nocturnal mammals and invertebrates, notes a team member, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (like a mat over a small hollow in the earth). “You find reptiles and things sheltering under there, but it’s likely a somewhat chilly for them now.” Organic nests, made from hollowed-out pieces of timber and buzzing with insects, are attached to some of the trees. The lack of livestock has allowed insects room to prosper in the meadows. When they visited this summer, comments the director, “I’d not once observed so countless butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were saying, ‘What is going on?’”

Beginnings of the Initiative

The first founders – Bennett, Jack, Molly and more individuals – came together as students, focusing on or having an passion in ecology. In that year, the climate experts was indicating that the safe limit of 1.5C of climate change was appearing impossible, Greta Thunberg was leading the youth protests for eco-awareness, and activist a speaker was discussing young people feeling “environmental stress”. It was also the period of Isabella Tree’s publication, Wilding, on how they transformed the Knepp Estate from a failing agricultural business into a successful natural habitat. “We were deeply influenced by the case study, but what could be the role for the next generation?” questions Molly. “So we developed a platform and rang up numerous of wildlife trusts and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners seeking to do something and you are short on resources?’”

Jack adds the narrative: “Our entire organisation was fundamentally premised on the idea that there were landowners who were ready to let a group of youthful enthusiasts on to their land freely, to take significant actions that would affect land value