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That beautifully intricate call of the songbird is a scarce occurrence in England today, yet it's different at the Surrey site. Previously, a lone nightingale could be heard at this secluded location in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them singing all night, from multiple areas,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the youth rewilding group. A band of participants were camping out at the location, but the birds were so boisterous, “we were unable to rest all night,” comments Layla Mapemba. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so amazing.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them capture and tag one of the nightingales the next morning, she remembers: “He’d never held a nightingale in his hands before. He was crying.”

Habitat Revival Speeds Up at This Location

Ecological restoration is by its very essence a slow endeavor, but here at this property, after only four years, the changes are already apparent, and noticeable. The land previously served as a sanctuary for animals. Currently it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ purpose: to speed up habitat revival, in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the globe, and to link the younger generation (18-30-year-olds) with a environment they are often shut out of, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to stop. Global heating continues, deforestation destroys wildlife homes, and one more climate conference ends with a frustrating end in Brazil – so what person could blame the younger generation for wishing to act independently?

Our organisation was founded on the idea that there were people prepared to let a bunch of young amateurs on to their property

“The newer cohort is the most informed in terms of nature that there’s previously,” says the group's leader, one organizer. They are also “the highly invested in the challenges, and have played the smallest part to their creation, and, then, are also going to experience consequences most as a outcome.”

Revitalization of the Landscape

Today, the initiative is expanding across the UK – and this location started it all, in multiple ways. “It’s where we started, and the place we created our community,” says a founding member, as she offers a tour of the expansive land. “This used to be multiple separate areas,” she says, as we move through overgrown meadows dotted with bushes, bordered by established trees. “The main visible change is that we’ve removed all the barriers, 1.2km of it, to make it feel like one landscape.” In the summer, they donned hazmat suits and cleared large amounts of giant hogweed, an invasive species that can harm the skin. “We’ve planted numerous of bush lines,” explains she. “But the key action is we’ve just let it breathe for a little bit. We’ve removed a large part of animal feeding and observed what’s sprung up.”

Low scrub and shrub lines are a perfect nightingale environment, she comments, however currently they’re managing some of the thorny plants to establish a greater variety of habitats and to join separate areas of the property. Fresh plantings will take considerably longer to establish, but new growth from the nearby trees are already growing in the fields; the group have been installing protectors to shield them from wildlife.

Wildlife Comes Back in Abundance

In addition to the nightingales – wildlife is reappearing in droves. This year they’ve seen reptiles, creatures, nocturnal mammals and bugs, says Noah Bennett, as he lifts up one of their monitoring tools (such as a mat over a small hollow in the ground). “You discover snakes and animals sheltering under there, but it’s possibly a bit cool for them now.” Wild nests, constructed from carved parts of timber and active with pollinators, are strapped to some of the woodland. The removal of livestock has provided invertebrates room to thrive in the long grass. When they explored this time, says Bennett, “I’d not ever seen so many butterflies. There were just clouds of them. We were saying, ‘What is happening?’”

Beginnings of the Initiative

The original founders – Noah, Jack, Easton and additional members – formed as students, focusing on or sharing an interest in ecology. In the recent past, the IPCC was indicating that the acceptable threshold of 1.5C of global heating was seeming unachievable, Greta Thunberg was guiding the school strikes for eco-awareness, and activist a speaker was talking about young people feeling “eco-worry”. It was also the era of a writer's book, about nature recovery, on how she and her husband revitalized the Knepp Estate from a struggling agricultural business into a successful wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the case study, but what was the part for youth?” says Molly. “So we developed a website and called loads of environmental organizations and were like, ‘Do you occasionally get your landowners seeking to make changes and you are short on time?’”

Durant continues the account: “Our entire organisation was fundamentally founded on the idea that there were landowners who were prepared to allow a bunch of youthful amateurs on to their estate freely, to take significant choices that would change land value