To mark the 40th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week, we’ve spent the week celebrating the work of our volunteers. They number at 14,000, all working in a range of different ways to save nature. Our annual Presidents’ Award Ceremony celebrates the wonderful contribution of our volunteers, in eight different award categories. The awards were presented by our President, Dr Amir Khan.
The Best Volunteering Team award went to the Abernethy Tree Nursery. Between them, the team grow around 10,000 trees a year, braving cold, rain, heart and midges to provide a future forest for the Cairngorms Connect project. This project is one of the largest habitat projects in the UK, restoring a 6,000-hectare area of Caledonian pine forest, making it into a haven for wildlife.
Taking the Community Champion award is Mick Davis, who works on our beach-nesting birds project in Norfolk. He can be found on the beach every day of the year, in all weathers, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds. In his eight years of volunteering with the RSPB, he’s clocked up an incredible 2,815 hours. When he’s not on duty as a volunteer, he inspires everyone he meets about local wildlife and how to protect it.
Lucinda Dixon, who has been volunteering in the Projects and Events team January 2023, was awarded our Most Impactful Newcomer. She is always up for trying something new, whether that’s helping prepare, set up and run events to volunteering from home, and has been a constant helping hand through a turbulent but successful year for the team. Her skills and positivity are unwavering.
Our one-in-a-million volunteer is Jean Ward, who volunteers at RSPB Flatford Wildlife Garden. The garden runs two-hour Family Adventure sessions to visitors – but Jean saw this as an opportunity to give refugee families a fun day out in nature. After approaching a local refugee organisation, she organised a trip for families. She planned the event, supplied her own activities, volunteered at the event and made the children RSPB Flatford bracelets and flags to take home. These trips are now part of the garden’s yearly events calendar, helping a new audience engage with nature – and it’s all down to Jean.
Rhys Leighton joined the South Stack team in November 2023, to support the reserve warden. Since then, he has thrived. Nothing is too much trouble for him, from creating fire breaks, fixing signage, and doing Chough surveys. The nature reserve would not have been able to get their habitat management work done without him, and the other volunteers find him a joy to be around.
The Worcester and Malvern RSPB Local Group make a huge impact in their local area. Their top priorities are to increase wildlife across the region, and connect local people with nature. Since March 2023 they have recruited an incredible 32 new volunteers. They created a crowdfunder that raised more than £23,000, which will sustain their various conservation projects and allow for more community engagement. Volunteers from the local group also enthuse pupils and staff across four different primary schools, with activities such as dissecting owl pellets, and demonstrations of bird ringing and feeding.
Claire Derbyshire has been involved in Tudeley Woods and Morris’ Wood for 11 years, starting as a Conservation Volunteer. Within a year, she’d become our first-ever (Volunteer) Volunteer Work Party Leader. Since then, she’s been involved in or run more than 350 work parties. As well as providing leadership and energy to the work parties, she’s also immensely supportive of the staff team, and is willing to put her hand to any task.
Claire Foot and Milly Revill-Hayward at Forsinard Flows were recognised for their dedication in providing a first-class volunteer experience to all. In addition to their peatland restoration work, they’re very serious about their roles as EDI ambassadors, proactively working to involve a diverse range of volunteers in their practical conservation work. Together, Claire and Milly have created an environment where volunteers want to go above and beyond in their role.
We’d like to congratulate all our award winners, and also thank all our incredible volunteers who do wonderful work to help save nature.
The RSPB's CEO, Beccy Speight, says:
Our President’s Awards are our annual volunteering ‘Oscars’, celebrating the fantastic contribution our amazing volunteers make to the RSPB each and every year. We are incredibly lucky to enjoy the growing support of 14,000 volunteers each year, who through every hour donated make a direct contribution to delivering our work for a thriving natural world. These awards are just one of the many ways we can recognise, appreciate, and celebrate the amazing work and contribution from those who give their energy, time, and talents to support our cause.
We’re always happy to welcome new volunteers to our team. If that sounds like you, get in touch!
