I love my job with RSPB Cymru for lots of reasons – its a great place to work, I am committed to our charitable aims, my boss is a good guy etc but the thing that really makes me appreciate my job are our wonderful volunteers who never fail to surprise and impress me.

We have over 1000 volunteers in Wales – completing all manner of tasks for us from strategic decision making, surveys, maintenance on our sites, hands on habitat management, office tasks, fundraising, engaging with the public at events, inspiring children and families and 100 other things that are needed. They donated over 70,000 hours to conservation in the last year.

As this week (1 – 7 June) is the 30th anniversary of Volunteers week, an annual celebration of the contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK it seemed the right time to say thank you to our wonderful volunteers. There is no doubt in my mind that we would not achieve our successes without the contribution we receive from our volunteer task force.

A big heartfelt thank you from me on a personal and professional level, you are all ‘awesome’.