Feature The usefulness of drones
Scientist, writer and former trustee Dr Ann Lackie investigates how drones have become part of the toolbox for conservation at Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are becoming increasingly useful tools in conservation work, and the Trust has been using its two UAVs to count birds and mammals, and to map a variety of terrains.
Sarah Dalrymple, South Walney’s Warden, counts nesting gulls. “It’s a brilliant way of counting birds’ nests. The big seabirds are not bothered by drones as long as they’re on the nests.” Image analysis requires lots of computing power, and she says, “It’s early days yet, and we’re still ironing out the kinks,” but eventually it should be possible to distinguish between the three species of nesting gulls. As for Walney’s seals, comparison of counts using binoculars and the UAV show that simple observation consistently ‘undercounts’ by about 20%: the aerial images are much more accurate.
In the north of the county, Reserves Officer Kevin Scot uses a UAV for mapping nature reserves like Drumburgh Moss and Bowness-on- Solway. “We can look at the types of vegetation such as grassland, dwarf scrub, heath and woodland – then monitor changes over time, and relate this to our management plans.” At Eycot Hill Nature Reserve, he focuses on areas such as the swamps and recent plantings and physical works, to check whether the restoration or creation of habitats is being successful.
In contrast, for the smaller peatland restoration projects like Materdale Common, Susie Lane, Peatland Restoration Officer, says the drone is “a really good tool” for showing where future work in blocking drains or building dams would be most effective; the aerial images help to explain the work to the public and to funders.
However, using a drone is not as simple as it sounds: training is necessary, and the machine is heavy to carry large distances. The flight route, area and altitude can be pre-programmed, but each of the four bateries only lasts about 10 minutes, acquiring about 90 straight-down images which are later ‘stitched together’ using a computer programme; the composite is ‘geo- referenced’ by overlaying onto a map.
Nevertheless, Andrew Macauley, one of the student placements, is trialling an innovative study of the tree canopy at Smardale. “You can clearly distinguish species, and see which ash trees have lost a lot of their crown to die-back,” he says. “Monitoring the changes annually will be really interesting.”
Monitoring Smardale Nature Reserve from the air will enable us to study tree health over time
Drone footage has been invaluable when surveying the seal population at South Walney Nature Reserve
www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk 21
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