White Post Farm’s first 24-hour BioBlitz!

We hosted our first ever 24-hour BioBlitz here at the farm, and we want to tell you all about what it entailed!

A BioBlitz consists of a period of biological surveying in order to record all of the living species within that area! This is the first time we have ever hosted a bio blitz at the farm, and we were extremely excited to see what nature lives amongst us! We did many types of surveying during this 24 hour bio blitz and the results that we found were extremely interesting! The Wildlife Trusts brought in a group of volunteers from the ‘Keeping it Wild’ group, who are aged 13 to 25, as well as a group of experts, to volunteer their time to discovering nature!

This bio blitz involved doing a species count using various methods, including recordings, small-mammal traps, hedgehog footprint tunnels, a bat walk, reptile counts and so much more! As well as the ‘Keeping it Wild’ volunteers and wildlife experts, lots of the WPF team gathered to show their support, and volunteered their time, taking part in the surveys. We also had a small group of customers who came along to join in the bio blitz fun!

One form of surveying that was used was ‘moth trapping’. Moth trapping consisted of a large piece of light equipment, being placed inside a small tent, that would attract a variety of moths that could be identified. The rarer species of moth were placed inside a large enclosure, which they could roam around in to be observed, before being freed back to the wild! There was some amazing species discovered by the team, which were written down on a huge chalkboard, which you can see at the end of this blog!

As well as the moth trapping, another form of monitoring the wildlife that surrounds the farm is through a hedgehog footprint tunnel. These work in a way without having to physically see the organism, but knowing that it has passed through. The hedgehog footprint tunnel consists of a couple of sheets of paper, with 2 black ink pads on either side, with a small bowl of food in the middle. This encourages the hedgehog to walk along the tunnel, leaving its little footprints on the paper from the ink. The experts will then assess the footprints, and figure out what species they belongs too, whether that be a hedgehog or another organism.

The team also took part in a bat walk! This happened at around 8:30pm, just as it began to get dark using some special equipment called bat detectors, which focus on using frequency to find the bats, and records the data whilst giving you the species of the bat, and some more information. As the focus is on sound and frequencies, it is very important to be quiet whilst trying to pick up the bats on your detector. Farmer Gemma is our bat expert here at the farm, and she attends many bat walks locally, including Sherwood Forest & Vicars Water, and she had an amazing time at the bat walk, even telling us all about it on a Facebook live with Farmer Tom.

There are many ways that you can take part in bio blitz activities yourself, such as birdwatching and noting down the species you see, or having a dig around in the garden to see what insects you may discover. There are many apps that you can download to help you identify certain species, and do your research!

For more information on Bio Blitz’, head over to The Wildlife Trusts website.

The results…

You can see the results that were found by the team, as well as some amazing artwork, up on the wall near the Gift Shop. Be sure to check it out on your next visit to the farm, and ask the team any questions!