SUSTAINABILITY

FEATURES
The ‘never a dull moment’ adage is
forever true on the reserve where a
significant list of species has been
identified by visiting professionals and
knowledgeable enthusiasts alike. The
volunteer pool is enormous with some
60 people turning out on a ‘worky-day’;
over 35,000hrs of volunteer time have
been committed over the past three
years, which costed out at just £5 per
hour would equate to £175,000 of work.
The impact on the habitat is quite
amazing, and as examples large
swathes of conifers planted in the 1950s
have been taken out and replaced with
native mixes, and hectares of willow
carr have been coppiced and pollarded
in rotational blocks.
Education continues to play a
prominent part in the activity schedule
with more than 25,000 school children
from as far away as York, Scarborough,
Leeds and Durham taking part in
tailor-made educational visits. Classes
have included dissecting owl pellets,
building bug houses and other
interesting topics related to the
species recorded on the site. Work
experience opportunities for many
local youngsters have been provided,
and more than 1600 local Community
Groups have taken advantage of the
four miles of pathways and boardwalks
that are open to all.
Information Technology at Foxglove
has had to move with the times and
on the back of our excellent web site,
which receives thousands of hits every
An ‘all female’ team of ringers processing the birds caught in the mist nets © Foxglove
week, the reserve has succumbed to
Facebook and Twitter – both with
hundreds of followers. People
nationally and internationally follow
the blog – some of whom have never
been to Foxglove!
Bird ringing and the study of bird
migration through the British Trust for
Ornithology is synonymous with the
reserve and the agri-environmental
agreement we have with Natural
England. The oldest marsh tit ever
recorded was recently re-caught at
Foxglove aged almost 11 years, and we
have also ringed and re-trapped the
oldest garden warbler ever recorded in
the UK at just over 10 years old.
Figure 1
ringed elsewhere, found at Foxglove
ringed at Foxglove, found elsewhere
Table 1
SPECIES
TOTAL
Buzzard 410
Kestrel 1089
Lapwing 1700
Tawny Owl 686
Wren 2251
Pied Flycatcher 2115
Willow Warbler 5973
Chaffnch 9662
Greenfinch 8526
Lesser Redpoll 2105
Examples of totals of new birds ringed in
and around Foxglove Covert LNR
Lesser redpoll recoveries to and from Catterick showing the wide dispersal of this species © Foxglove
Sanctuary 44 • 2015
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