White Post Farm

Conservation Initiatives

Native Pollinators​

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Here at the farm, we have worked on many projects which aim to engage and educate the local communities about pollinators and how to support them. We have orchestrated a range of activities and events regarding conservation and pollinators, which the local communities have got involved in. 

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In Summer 2025, we opened the gates to our brand new Conservation Area, aiming at getting the community and our visitors involved in conservation activities. As part of this process, we invited members from the local communities to help plant trees in this area. Farnsfield School, Southwell Young Farmers, Jelly Fitness, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and our Little Farmers club all came together and planted over 1200 trees! 

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Since we have been keeping beehives at the farm, we have become members of the British Beekeepers Association, the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. The team are passionate about educating our visitors on the importance of bees and other pollinators, so we decided to host a Bee Day here at the farm. This consisted of bringing in David Bell, a local beekeeper, as well as our trained beekeepers here at the farm, who hosted a bee talk, Q&A and some honey-tasting! This was a great opportunity to educate our visitors more in-depth about the bees, and it had a great response from our visitors! 

Our most recent Home Educator Day focused on ‘Sustainability Superheroes’, which allowed our home-educated visitors to come along and learn all about the pollinators. As part of this day, we offered a free-flow experience, with some set activities including a bee-talk, butter-making and ‘Whose Poo?’. 

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Our team get involved in both bee and butterfly walks to conduct transects, with help from the community. We have a range of students from West Notts College, Lincoln University and DofE volunteers who love to get involved in these transects, making it a great way to educate the local community.

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During the Summer of 2025, we hosted a Summer Event all about bees and the pollinators, focusing on using the senses to learn about sustainability and our pollinators. We see that visitors are enjoying learning about the pollinators and love getting involved in activities, so this event had a great response from our visitors.

These projects, especially the development of our new conservation area, create new habitats for pollinators, including our new pond and the trees planted with help from the community. This conservation area has also brought new natural resources to the farm, including native trees, the pond and the dry stone wall that the WPF team are currently building. This new conservation area also provides new food sources for wildlife. 

One of the most important elements that these projects focus on is educating the community on the importance of conservation, sustainability and helping the pollinators. It provides them with new and innovative ways to get involved and make a difference, whilst enjoying what they are learning. 

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Our Alternative Provision (AP) students have been going up to the conservation area to monitor the wildlife that is appearing, and so far, they have found a range of insects, including:

Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonflies, Tadpoles & Frogspawn, Grasshoppers, White Tail Bumblebees, Pond Skaters, Water boatmen, Whirligig beetles, Daphnia and other micro-fauna, hedgehogs.

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The APs have also been conducting FIT (Flower-insect timed) counts at various places on the farm, including the conservation area. We will be making this a regular activity, so we can submit our findings to the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme.

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We have planted 15 apple trees, which are heritage trees, which cover early, middle and late season, meaning they are long-lasting in our conservation area, helping the pollinators! 

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We have placed a second Beehive in the Conservation Area to boost pollination. The team is also working on designing a new bug hotel to be placed up there, which will be our third bug hotel on site!

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We were also awarded for our efforts with the bees and conservation,  by winning the 'Bees Needs Award' from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 

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Morgan Wood

White Post Farm

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