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That manically melodic melody of the nightingale is a scarce sound in Britain these days, but not at this rural location. Back in 2020, a single nightingale could be noticed at this secluded spot in the countryside of Surrey; this summer, they were in multiple locations. “We were hearing them singing all night, from several zones,” says one ecologist, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders. A team of participants were residing temporarily at the property, yet the nightingales were so loud, “we stayed awake all night,” says a project coordinator. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so incredible.” An expert from the local conservation group came to help them trap and mark one of the nightingales the next morning, she recalls: “He’d never touched a nightingale in his possession before. He was emotional.”

Habitat Revival Accelerates at This Location

Ecological restoration is by nature a slow endeavor, but here at Maple Farm, after just a short period, the changes are already visible, and audible. The farm was once a sanctuary for equines. Today it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ goal: to accelerate ecological restoration, in one of the biodiversity-poor countries in the globe, and to engage youth (18-30-year-olds) with a ecosystem they are often denied access to, and a environmental emergency they are often unable to stop. Climate change advances, tree clearing destroys wildlife homes, and another climate conference comes to a frustrating conclusion in abroad – so who could blame youth for choosing to take matters into their own hands?

Our project was based on the notion that there were individuals prepared to permit a group of young amateurs on to their estate

“The younger generation is the most knowledgeable environmentally that there’s previously,” states the group's co-director, one organizer. They are also “the most emotionally involved in the issues, and have added the smallest part to their causing, and, then, are also going to be affected most as a result.”

Revitalization of the Landscape

Now, the group is taking root across the United Kingdom – and the original site started it all, in every sense. “It’s our origin point, and the place we created our network,” explains a founding member, as she provides a tour of the 12-hectare property. “This used to be six different fields,” she states, as we move through tall vegetation filled with shrubs, hemmed by forest. “The primary noticeable change is that we’ve removed all the fencing, 1.2km of it, to create the impression like one area.” In the summer, they used protective gear and eradicated large amounts of invasive plants, an non-native plant that can burn the skin. “We’ve planted loads of natural barriers,” explains Easton. “But the key action is we’ve just let it breathe for a brief period. We’ve removed a lot of animal feeding and seen what’s emerged.”

Bushes and natural fences are a excellent nightingale environment, she says, however now they’re trimming some of the thorny plants to develop a more diversity of habitats and to link up different sections of the property. Fresh plantings will take much more time to grow, but young trees from the adjacent trees are already taking root in the fields; the team have been placing barriers to shield them from wildlife.

Nature Comes Back in Abundance

It’s not just the nightingales – fauna is returning in droves. Recently they’ve observed serpents, slowworms, nocturnal mammals and invertebrates, explains another co-director, as he lifts up one of their survey equipment (such as a doormat over a depression in the soil). “You find creatures and things residing under there, but it’s possibly a bit cool for them now.” Natural beehives, built using carved pieces of timber and buzzing with wild bees, are fixed to some of the trees. The lack of livestock has provided insects space to prosper in the long grass. When they visited this summer, comments he, “I’d not once seen so many lepidoptera. There were just masses of them. We were wondering, ‘What is going on?’”

Origins of the Movement

The initial participants – Noah, Jack, Easton and two others – united as youth, pursuing or expressing an interest in environmental science. In 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was predicting that the acceptable threshold of one and a half degrees of warming was seeming out of reach, Greta Thunberg was spearheading the demonstrations for environmental action, and activist another voice was talking about young people feeling “climate anxiety”. It was also the era of Isabella Tree’s publication, Wilding, on how the authors transformed the a Sussex location from a struggling dairy farm into a successful wildlife haven. “We were highly motivated by the Knepp story, but what was the role for the next generation?” says Easton. “So we made a platform and rang up numerous of environmental organizations and were asking, ‘Do you sometimes get your estate holders wanting to do something and you don’t have time?’”

Durant explains the narrative: “Our whole project was basically based on the notion that there were landowners who were prepared to let a bunch of youthful enthusiasts on to their property without strict rules, to decide on fairly massive decisions that would change land value