Nigel Hewitt, the RSPB's longest-serving volunteer, has marked 60 years of dedication to bird conservation, having first started in 1966 while on a break from his A-level studies to help protect ospreys. Now 77, he has played a key role in safeguarding the cirl bunting, a small farmland finch that was nearly lost from the UK, by helping manage habitats at the Labrador Bay and Ashill nature reserves in Devon, alongside work on a red-backed shrike project on Dartmoor. His long service highlights the vital role volunteers play in species recovery efforts across the UK.

Hewitt began by helping guard the first ospreys to breed in Britain in over a century, working round-the-clock shifts to protect the nest from egg thieves and vandals. He went on to volunteer throughout his life, including during a 30-year career at Barclays, and now leads walks at the Labrador Bay reserve, home to a cirl bunting population that numbered over 1,000 pairs in the last national survey in 2016, mainly in south Devon with a reintroduced population in Cornwall. RSPB volunteering development officer Tim Hughes praised his "sustained commitment" and lasting legacy, which Hewitt says he intends to continue for years to come.