Adopt-a-Box Scheme

This scheme gives people the opportunity to sponsor nestboxes and bat boxes on the Reserve. It has been set up to help us raise vital funds for our conservation efforts. By sponsoring one of the many boxes at Foxglove Covert you can be sure that your sponsorship money will be well spent.

The volunteers at the Reserve build, site and monitor over 150 nestboxes and over 50 bat boxes at Foxglove Covert. We visit the nestboxes in the spring and record details of each brood of chicks we find. We also take the opportunity to ring the young birds and any of the adults which we are able to capture. We monitor our bat boxes in late summer as these are used only for roosting, rather than for nesting. Here we look for evidence of occupation.

Adopt-a-Box Scheme

We have divided the boxes up into three different types as follows:

Standard box, typically suitable for birds like Tits which cost £3 per year
Special box, typically suitable for more unusual birds like Kestrels, Owls, Dippers, etc which cost £5 per year
Bat boxes are all the same as our Standard boxes and cost £3 per year

You may sponsor as many boxes as you wish for as long as you wish. When you sponsor a box we will send you a certificate which shows a photograph of your box together with a map showing its location on the Reserve so you can easily identify it. When we monitor your box we will send you details of the species and number of young which we have ringed. If you have sponsored a bat box we will let you know the results of our survey.

We will send you a reminder when the period of your original sponsorship comes to an end and you will be able to renew your sponsorship for the same box, or change it for another. You can also sponsor additional boxes at any time you choose.

To sponsor a box, please contact us on 01748 831113 or 07754 270980 for an application form or pick one up from the Field Centre.

If you want to give a sponsored box as a gift to someone, please complete the application form in the name of the person to whom you are giving the gift. We will include a small card with the certificate if you let us know what greeting you would like to send.