Having been a volunteer to help bottle-feed Ashley from when he was born, it's lovely to be a part of a dedicated team helping to give this little donkey a good start in life. I've got used to seeing Ashley's cute face waiting at the stable door when I arrive to make up his feed in the early mornings when most people are tucked up in bed and fast asleep.

It's 1 o'clock in the morning and little Ashley's has had his midnight feed... and of course his cuddles too! When I arrived, I peered through the stable door thinking he might be asleep, but no. His little face was peering right back at me... as usual!

At 3 am the alarm went off and I fought the urge to turn over and go back to sleep, but in my thoughts was little Ashley waiting for his special foal milk. I quickly got dressed and stumbled passed our cat and dog who were totally disorientated by me being up at that time of morning!

At 4 am this morning I arrived at our isolation unit to find Ashley wide awake and already at his stable door waiting for his next feed. He was extremely well behaved and patiently watched while I made up his special foal milk after his last feed at midnight.

I was out and about yesterday taking photos around the Sanctuary and took a walk by the hospital paddocks where there was a donkey standing quite content with a divot of grass in his mouth... I was intrigued and went to find out more about this donkey called Micky.

In 1969, when The Donkey Sanctuary was founded, I was only 6 years of age. Little did I know that 40 years later, I would be working for the biggest charity devoted to the rescue and welfare of donkeys in the world.