To celebrate his first anniversary as a volunteer ranger, MARTIN AXFORD writes about what motivates him to pull on boots to help conserve nature in Swindon After 20 years working for the railways, my career started tailing off and appeared to be going down blind alleys.

I was made redundant in June 2013 but not before booking a holiday in Iceland.

This had a profound effect on me, travelling through the wild barren landscapes on a journey from the capital, Reykjavik, to Akureyri in the north was six hours of scenic delight.

Better still was seeing and photographing humpback whales and many different species of bird – in fact there are far more puffins than people in Iceland, 10,000,000 to only 320,000 people.

I fell in love with the place and decided to return there to work. Sending my CV to a few Icelandic companies predictably resulted in zero response as I can’t speak Icelandic.

This didn’t dampen my enthusiasm however, and as an alternative I investigated working in the UK as a park ranger and found it was easier to do this with suitable qualifications.

An alternative way was to become a volunteer, so I talked to one or two of the rangers at Coate Water and started as a volunteer in October 2013.

The first project I got involved with was creating habitats for grass snakes – and for the first time I felt I was really making a valuable contribution.

At this time I was unemployed, claiming job seekers’ allowance and applying for numerous jobs but having no success.

I found that volunteering really helped to keep my spirits up and got me out and about in all weathers meeting people and making many new friends.

I also gained numerous new skills. Volunteering happens every Tuesday at one or other of the local parks and reserves run by Swindon Council: Coate Water, Stanton Park, Seven Fields, Queens Park and Barbury Castle.

I also started volunteering for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust at its Lower Moor reserve, which happens on the first Sunday of each month.

As a by-product of this my nature photography has improved as I quite often see and get close to wildlife.

For example, during a recent session at Stanton Park building a bonfire, numerous baby toads were seen hopping away in all directions from the site.

If you’d like to know more, or get involved, call the Ranger Team on 01793 490150, email swindonrangers@swindon.gov.uk or visit swindon.gov.uk and search for ‘Volunteer’.