The diverse habitats of the site mean that a variety of bird species is either resident or passing through on migration and bird-ringing is one of the most important aspects of conservation on the Reserve.
Most of the ringing is done with mist nets but there is also a Heligoland trap for use when mist netting is not possible. The site has some 70 different mist net rides, although only about 50 are used on a regular basis. The Field Centre ringing room was purpose built and offers a level of comfort and space rarely equalled at other sites.
In common with all other bird-ringing sites, Foxglove Covert carries out its work under the auspices of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) through whom each ringer must be licenced. The Reserve is also a Constant Effort Site (CES). This effectively means that, in order to remove as many variables as possible, the same number of nets are erected in the same net rides on the same 12 days of the year for the same length of time. Because CES is always run in the summer months, ringing starts as early as 3am and continues for ten and a half hours.
Some interesting recoveries of birds Ringed at Foxglove
- Feb 2009. Our first recovery of a Greenfinch from Vale Marais on the island of Guernsey controlled by Guernsey ringers some six months after leaving us in North Yorkshire, and a second Greenfinch reported from Alston in Cumbria which was killed by a cat NINE years after being ringed at Foxglove in 1999.
- Mar 9 '08 The ringers caught 77 Lesser Redpolls on the Reserve in one day which is an all time record
- A Storm Petrel ringed at Cape Wrath was retrapped 988km away in Iceland 727 days after ringing. Our first recovery ever from there.
- A Brambling ringed at Foxglove 04/04 found 833km away in Norway 557 days after ringing.
- A Razorbill ringed at Cape Wrath 04/05 found 868km away in Norway 810 days after ringing.
- A Great Black-backed Gull ringed at Cape Wrath as a chick 07/94 killed by a car 602km away in Norway 3935 days after ringing.
- A Blackbird ringed at Foxglove 01/01 found 1018km away in N Norway 1610 days after ringing.
- An adult female Tawny ringed in Foxglove in 1994 was still raising young nearby in 2007!
- As the submissions of ringing data for 2007 are finalised some record totals have been achieved with 59 new Tawny Owls being ringed in the year and 70 Kestrels!
