setupexternalfigures[location={local,default}]
\starttext
text%
\footnote{\hangsidefloat[2]
\placefigure[right,none]{}
{\externalfigure[cow][width=.1\textwidth]}
\dorecurse{3}{\input ward}}
%for comparison
\hangsidefloat[2]
\placefigure[right,none]{}
{\externalfigure[cow][width=.1\textwidth]}
\dorecurse{3}{\input ward}%
\stoptext
The text and image in the main body are as they should be.
But note that the first line of the footnote is blank and that, while the image is placed as it should be, the text runs through it.