The annual award ceremony shines a spotlight on the RSPB’s dedicated volunteers.
On Sunday 8 June 2025, the RSPB celebrated its annual President’s Awards – a recognition of volunteers who have gone above and beyond to help to save nature.
The President’s Awards have been running for over 37 years, and in 2025, the RSPB received the highest number of nominees in its history. Volunteers are 85% of the charity’s workforce, so choosing the winners is no easy feat! Beccy Speight, the RSPB’s CEO, presented awards for seven categories.
“I love meeting our volunteers whenever I am out and about and I never fail to be hugely impressed and inspired by what they achieve with us for birds and for the natural world. From our Council members right through to reserves teams and the loaning of specialist skills from individuals including scientists and lawyers, we would simply be unable to do what we do without their generous gifts of time, knowledge and skill. We are so very grateful to have them all as part of the RSPB family.” - Beccy Speight
Best Urban Action for Nature – Roy Williams
Best Team – LIFE Raft Residential (Northern Ireland)
Community Champion – Manchester Swifts
Young Volunteer of the Year – Ashleigh Thomson
Best Newcomer – Evan Williams
Outstanding Voluntary Action – Pete Wood
Outstanding Voluntary Leadership – Sharon Irvine
Only three and a half miles from the centre of Birmingham, RSPB Sandwell Valley is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle and find solace in nature. Roy Williams has been an invaluable member of the nature reserve workforce for the past 10 years.
“As a volunteer in the hides and Visitor Centre, you act as a conduit between the visitors and nature. That’s what it’s all about. Passing on knowledge and helping people to appreciate nature.”
Starting as a Hide Guide and Visitor Centre Assistant, his volunteering journey took an unexpected turn after the pandemic. When a member of staff was off sick, he stepped in to help out with an education visit and never looked back. Roy led or helped out with 102 school groups in the following three years. Activities included pond-dipping, birdwatching, minibeast hunting, singing and dancing. In total, Roy clocked up over 60 miles of walking around the lake with schools!
Roy celebrated his 80th birthday in April 2025. As the Schools on Reserves programme ended in 2024, he now spends most of his volunteering hours in the Visitor Centre. The team at RSPB Sandwell Valley said,
“It is clear that Roy really cares about the organisation, the reserve and the community in which we work in everything he does. He is truly committed to making the RSPB the best it can be, and his long-term dedication deserves to be rewarded.”
Rathlin Island is a haven for threatened seabirds. The residential volunteering team for LIFE Raft were part of a project working towards eradicating non-native species. Brown Rats are thought to have been introduced to the island from a shipwreck, and ferrets introduced as a means to control rabbit populations. Both species are having devastating effects on ground-nesting birds.
“Only one in three Puffin chicks survived to fledge in 2023. When LIFE Raft is hopefully announced successful, there’s going to be such a sense of achievement – knowing I was part of a project that made such a massive difference to ground-nesting seabirds.”
Julie Hunt, a member of the residential volunteer team, was on the island for seven months. Like many of the volunteers, she donated large amounts of time to the ambitious, intensive project. The team were responsible for laying bait stations on the island every 50 metres, monitoring the results and engaging with the local community. They worked outdoors in all weathers and across all terrains.
Frances Avenell, aged 23, moved to the island during winter in January 2025 and stayed until April. They said,
“It’s physically demanding work, but we were all in the same boat together. Everyone’s got stuck in a bog at some point – you go home, you get changed and you laugh it off. Although it will take several years to monitor the seabirds, it’s easy to see the effects we were having immediately. It was an amazing experience – one of the best things I’ve done in my life.”
The Manchester Swift City project, funded by People’s Postcode Lottery, aims to transform Manchester into the largest ‘Swift neighbourhood’ in the north-west of England. Swifts are a species in serious decline, and evidence shows that a lack of suitable nest sites is a contributing factor. Laying their eggs under eaves and in crevices, these birds are losing their nests as our houses are getting better insulated and as soffits are installed. For every 10 Swifts zooming through our skies in 1995, there were only around four in 2021.
“I started getting upset at the thought of Swifts on their way back to the UK, ready to lay their eggs, only to find their nesting site had been boarded up. I read that Swifts can be injured trying to get back into their boarded-up nests. I already had four Swift bricks retro fitted, but I wanted to do more.”
Haldis Corry is now a Swift Champion and organised for 22 nestboxes, fully funded with great thanks to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, to be installed on her neighbours’ houses.
“One thing I didn’t expect from this project was the sense of community that came with the project. I’ve been in contact, back and forth, with all my neighbours who got involved. We watch each other’s nestboxes for any bird activity and message when we spot a screaming party. A few are also keen gardeners, and we have plant swaps!”
Natalia Curi, a Volunteer Co-ordinator – and a volunteer herself –, has been working in the Species Volunteer Network as part of the Swift Champion project since early 2024.
“One thing I’ve realised from this project is that, because Swifts are considered city birds – nesting in buildings and thriving in urban areas – people really have a direct opportunity to collaborate on their conservation efforts. By taking part in the public events we’ve organised in the project, I’ve seen what a huge opportunity there is for Swifts, as many people are genuinely interested in helping and volunteering for the cause.”
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Wildlife Explorers offers young people the opportunity to connect with nature, through pond-dipping, minibeast hunting, den building and more. Being part of a youth group has been an invaluable and formative experience for many, and it wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and dedication of volunteers, like Ashleigh.
“I’m the one who got the group back up and running after it shut down during Covid. I also volunteer with Girlguiding – running youth groups with them. It was brought up that they were trying to bring the RSPB one back, and I do a lot to do with wildlife as well, so I knew I could help.”
In addition to being a Main Leader for Wildlife Explorers Conwy, Ashleigh is using a variety of voluntary and paid placements to help to build her skills, with aspirations of becoming a Conservation Officer. She volunteers on an Island Biosecurity project at Puffin Island, she watches camera traps for the Species Volunteer Network and does practical habitat management for the North Wales Wildlife Trust.
Sian, her manager, praises her ability to push herself outside of her comfort zone to both grow within herself and give back to nature and her community.
“She’s an inspirational young person – her dedication, attention to detail and organisational skills are phenomenal. She never lets barriers hold her back and comes up with lots of different ways to overcome them. She’s a real inspiration to other young people!”
Evan Williams has been a keen birdwatcher since childhood, with his parents introducing him to wildlife at a young age. Since living at university, and having more independence, he’s heading out with his binoculars even more. Before the placement year of his Zoology Master’s degree, he realised he would prefer to be out connecting people to nature, rather than in a lab pursuing academia. He contacted the RSPB, who pointed him towards Giving Nature a Home project, where he now mostly works with school groups.
“If you bring enthusiasm to children, they’re more than excited to match it – and then some! Everything you point out to them is the most exciting thing in the world – and that’s so rewarding. Not everyone’s willing to get so hyped about stuff, so it’s refreshing to work with them.”
The Giving Nature a Home (GNaH) Glasgow project has been working across the city since 2013, supporting community groups and schools to connect people with nature. Through outreach work and organised events, the project provides local people with opportunities to learn about urban wildlife and take action to save it.
“It’s so important that everyone growing up has nature in mind,” he says. “It creates grown-ups who are conscious about the decisions they’re making.”
Evan has been inspiring others to get involved too. He’s organised student hedge planting sessions to help improve the local green space.
“I’d recommend anyone volunteers for the RSPB. The best thing about it is the people – they are knowledgeable, but they’re so nice too. They’re so willing to share their knowledge. And building these skills has made more confident about the thought of applying for jobs in the future.”
Now alive with Bitterns booming, Bearded Tits pinging and Marsh Harriers skydancing, RSPB Ham Wall is unrecognisable from how it looked in the 1990s. 30 years ago, over a quarter of a million tonnes of peat were being extracted from the site each year. Pete Wood is one of the volunteers responsible for restoring this wildlife-rich reedbed at Ham Wall.
“600,000 or 700,000 individual reed plants were planted in those days. It’s a very satisfying job looking back now. You hear people talking on the reserve, saying ‘Oh this is nice’ and you think to yourself ‘Oh yeah? I did some of that.’“
Despite volunteering at the nature reserve for 25 years, Pete still enjoys getting out on the site, evidenced by his dedication to his multiple roles. “My wife asks if I can sleep here!” He’s logged 1,457 volunteer hours since October 2021 alone. When asked about Pete, his line manager, Abbie, says: “It’s almost a question of what doesn’t Pete do!”
Formerly an engineer, one of Pete’s main roles is day-to-day maintenance around the reserve, including – but certainly not limited to – fixing picnic benches, sorting plumbing issues and fixing broken doors. And that’s not all. Alongside his maintenance role, Pete leads guided walks, engages with visitors and surveys wildlife. In recent weeks, he’s been up at 4:30am with the Warden team, listening out for Bitterns.
Sharon became a main leader for Wildlife Explorers at Northbourne over two and a half years ago, after volunteering at Sandwich Bay Observatory Bay Explorers youth group for a few years prior. She noticed the need – and the demand – for more groups across the wider area. With a wealth of experience in working with young people, she was keen to use her skills to connect children in her community to nature.
“Hopefully, they will become the advocates for nature in the future; we need these young people to help us do something about the crisis we’re in at the moment.”
Upon starting the Wildlife Explorers Northbourne, she attended Parish Council meetings to gather support for the group in the local area. As a result, Wildlife Explorers were able to install more nestboxes in the area, leave parts of local meadows unmown for No Mow May and received donations from a local fundraising event. As a result of her efforts, a local landowner even allowed the youth group access to an area of their land, allowing them to look after it and manage it with nature in mind.
“Getting the President’s award - I’m so humbled by it – I didn’t expect it. How amazing to get an award for doing something that you love? Isn’t that just great?”
Whether it’s getting your hands dirty out on a nature reserve or working within your community to help wildlife on your patch, the RSPB has hundreds of ways you can use your skills. Whatever experience or availability you have, nature needs you. Become a volunteer and you’ll join a team of people, all taking action together.
Explore these pages to find your perfect opportunity.
