In Situ/Ex Situ Conservation
Find out more about our mission, purpose and policy for conservation and what we aim to achieve in the future.
From Bees, to Rare-Breeds, learn how we aim to educate staff and visitors and the wider community about the importance of sustainable living and conservation.
In Situ Conservation
British Bee Keeper Association (BBKA)
In Spring 2023 we introduced a Bee Hive, became members of the British Bee Keeper Association. The BBKA helps provide training and support to our WPF Beekeepers, as well as providing education information that we can pass forward in workshops and educating our visitors.
Honey Bees
Our Honey bees here at the farm are an essential part of our educational offerings here at the farm. With our new Self-Led workshops offering schools the opportunity to learn about the conservation of bees, as well as the process of making honey!
School groups are educated on the Bees through talks, on-site signage, as well as being taught the Bee-Dance to show how they pollinate.
During our Summer event, ‘One Big Wild Summer’, we offer a Beekeeper talk every single day, where the WPF team get the opportunity to educate visitors on our honey bees, their conservation, and even getting to taste some of our very own honey!
Rare Breeds Survival Trust
In 2023, our events have been filled with a conservation message. In February we concentrated on our Rare Breed Native livestock with “Animal Antics’ educating about the importance of the Rare Breed Survival Trust (RBST). We have increased the number of animals from the RBST watchlist we keep, and are hoping for our inspection soon to become an Approved Farm Park with the RBST.
Since gaining approval from the RBST, we hope once approved we can play some part in reversing the decline of native animals on the RBST watchlist, whilst continuing to raise public awareness of these species and the important of their role ion conservation and bio diversity. Our collection plan highlights the desire to move towards keeping livestock on the watchlist over other breeds.
In 2024 the RBST is our supported charity of choice. We encouraged membership sign ups and donations through onsite branding from RBST.
Educational Offerings
- Little Farmers Club
- Home Educator Days
- Ranger Academy, Junior Range Academy, Ranger Academy Exploration
- The Conservation Challenge
- Group Visits
- Animal Roadshows
- Self-led Workshops
Ex-Situ Conservation
Transects
Our team continue to take part in conservation training, surveying and project both onsite and locally. We are very lucky that our site joins to the end of the Southwell trail, a nature reserve and a former railway line dating back to 1842, it is an important route for wildlife, providing a habitat corridor through the landscape.
Following Butterfly ID training in 2021 and the registration of a Butterfly transect with the UK Butterfly monitoring scheme the team record and submit findings from the weekly transect from March to October annually.
In 2023 we became a Business member of the Bumble bee Conservation Trust and took part in BeeWalk, a national recording scheme run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to monitor the abundance of bumblebees on transacts across the country. The team identify, count and submit the bumblebees they see on a monthly walk along a set route from March to October.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust
We have been members of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust for two years now, supporting the conservation of Bumblebees.
The UK bumblebees are in crisis! Bumblebees are familiar and much loved insects that pollinate our crops and wildflowers. There are 24 bumblebee species found in the UK. Unfortunately, two UK species have become nationally extinct over the past century, while other species have declined dramatically.
We take part in a BeeWalk once every month to add to the findings of the national bumblebee monitoring scheme, run by The Bumblebee Conservation Trust. It was revealed that 2024 was the worse year for bumblebees since records began.
The White Post Farm team are proud to support the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and will continue to work to help the UK’s struggling bumblebee species.
