Today is the last day of National Volunteers' Week (June 1st - 7th) in the UK.

Between 1st April 2014 and 1st April 2015, 125 people volunteered at the Dyfi Osprey Project and between them, they donated just over 11,000 hours. A phenomenal commitment.

Volunteer Jo explains all about the Dyfi ospreys to three visitors

That is the equivalent of around eight full-time staff for a whole year, which is around 75% of the combined paid staff of Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust. Add all of our other volunteers and the combined volunteer time easily surpasses the staff time. Hundreds of volunteers right from the Chairman, Treasurer and Directors down, we are a volunteer-based wildlife charity.

But, despite being handy for illustrative and monitoring purposes, these figures are quite arbitrary really.

Those 125 people give you 125 different skills and experiences, and 125 professions. At DOP we have teachers, electricians, joiners, doctors, translators, planners, builders, lecturers, decorators, shop-keepers, gardeners, administrators, managers, actors, plumbers, foresters, nurses, bankers, students, the list goes on and on. Try getting all this diversity of experiences from "the equivalent of eight staff"!

Volunteers Carol and Graham open up the 360 Observatory at the start of another shift

We could not run the Dyfi Osprey Project without volunteers. For those of you that have visited, the vast majority, if not all, of the people you would have encountered with a red top would have been a volunteer. They engage with 35,000 visitors each year, answering their questions and being their teacher for their visit. Indirectly, they also generate millions for the local economy.

Volunteers also keep our ospreys safe. Seven weeks of matchstick-eye-opening 24/7 shifts have just come to an end for another 10 months. All those graveyard shifts, the early mornings, the late nights, just to keep three eggs safe from disturbance and illegal egg collectors. It is all immeasurably humbling when you think about it.

Volunteers guard the nest 24 hours a day for 42 days in 2015

The Dyfi Osprey Project currently receives no external funding apart from a £12,000 grant from the Welsh Government via Environment Wales. All this money is used very specifically for Volunteer Development - training, inductions, H&S, travel, events, management, rotaring and so on. The rest of the Dyfi Osprey Project is funded by kind donations by people like yourselves, both at the project and online. Sadly, and despite being barely a year into this six-year grant program, the Welsh Government has decided to bring this grant to a close - this September.

We are currently in dialogue with Environment Wales and the Welsh Government to see whether any other funding will be available, but no project framework has been announced by Welsh Government as I write, and it looks like in three months we will lose this vital financial lifeline to maintain our volunteer stronghold.

Humans annihilated species like the osprey to extinction in the UK during the last 500 years. No ospreys had bred in Wales for 400 years up until 11 years ago; we are extremely lucky to be alive at a time they are back with us, just. We want to reverse the damage that our ancestors have done, not continue it.

Volunteer "Posh Pete" explains the differences between the Yellow-browed warbler and the Pallas leaf warbler to an amateur bird watcher

There are only four pairs of ospreys in Wales, it's probably our rarest breeding bird; there are around 20 pairs in England. If we lose this vital volunteer funding, all of us become poorer, including the ospreys. We will keep you updated with our discussions with Welsh Government; £12,000 is not a lot in the big scheme of things, but it means the world to us.

So, as a tribute and a thank-you during National Volunteering Week to all the people that donate their time so readily and freely, here is a video just for you.

Volunteers are the Amazon of our project and reserve, our life-blood from which all other life can exist. Our volunteers are the Dyfi Osprey Project.

Ospreys are very good at protecting themselves in the wild from natural predators like other birds and mammals. There is, however, one species from which they can do very little to protect their eggs, chicks and habitats from. We can though.

Thank you all very much for protecting our wildlife and keeping our ospreys safe.