Hi all just a quick one, new drone user I’m looking at taking my drone to a place near me called Croxley common moor looking online looks like people have flown there in the past years ago, I looked on drone assist and it’s a SSSI for ground hazard now just getting use to the rules of where I can and can’t fly, would I be right in saying that it would be okay to fly as the ground hazard is basically for the wildlife on the ground ? Know it might sound like a silly question
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Hi Ryan @rpalmer1 and welcome to Grey Arrows 
Not necessarily 
If I look at Croxley Common Moor on Drone Scene (rather than Drone Assist):
And I click through the SSSI layer it tells me why it’s an SSSI.
In this example, it’s biological:
So you’re all good.
Depending on the time of year, there may be birds nesting and other wildlife that are not on the ground that you should be mindful and respectful of
And as you’re quite new here, why not nip over to the Introductions page, and say hello properly and tell us a bit about yourself. 
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Hi thanks for the reply and for your help, yep I will pop by the intro page to introduce myself.
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Hello I spoke to someone in regards of the common land if there was any byelaws and this is what they said please tell me if I’m being stupid but does that mean I can fly there? Not good with all this legal talking stuff lol
Three Rivers District Council does not have byelaws that relate specifically to the use of drones on its land.
More info from our FOI here:
Yes.
Hi thanks for the reply on there website they write that any use of drones on there land is not permitted
Then either their web site is wrong or their reply to Freedom of Information request is wrong.
Have a read of this:
You can probably bundle drones in with “model aircraft”.
TTBOMK the ‘50m from people/150m from buildings’ CAA rule they quoted applies to drones over the weight limit of 250g. If your drone weighs in at 250g or less including any additions such as strobe lights, landing gear, camera filters &c, the rules are much less stringent, and you can fly more or less anywhere you like within 400’ above the ground and subject to FRZs (red on Drone Scene/Drone Assist, usually airports, military firing ranges, royal residences, and prisons) and NOTAMs (in blue on DS/DA, Notices To Airmen published by the CAA to cover events that require a temporary FRZ, such as balloon flying, fireworks, drone display, laser shows, building cranes, or events where major crowds are expected such as gigs, festivals, and sports events). You are required to fly within the CAA’s ‘drone code’ though with regard to nuiscance, privacy, wildlife, and not over crowds. So avoid schools and hospitals, and in general don’t be a dick!
The yellow areas inform you of possible hazards and clicking on them will give a rough guide as to what the possible hazard is, for example a public park where ‘large groups of people occasionally congregate’. What this means in practical terms is ‘don’t fly on Saturday morning when the football matches are going on’, but you’ll be fine at most other times. Yellow also highlights power lines, railways, busy fast roads, buildings, masts, factory chimblies, towers, and of course SSSIs.
SSSIs are there for various reasons, some of which are unaffected by flying such as geological features or rare plants, but wildlife is another matter. Nesting birds may be alarmed by drones which look like birds of prey in the sky, and not leave the nest to find food for chicks, so you have an adverse affect on breeding. Animals such as deer are easily spooked, as are feral horses.
It’s a matter of common sense. Stay high in the breeding season and over winter feeding grounds on mudflats, don’t land on ground where you might trample rare plants, and in general don’t be a dick!
Enjoy flying on Coxley Common Moor and many other places whenever you want to. Don’t take off or land on private land without permission but overfly to your heart’s content. You can even fly in some airport FRZs, with permission from Air Traffic Control; their phone number is on the FRZ click-on details. Expain what you intend to do and as long as you’re out of the way of the airliners they’ll be happy enough to tell you where is safe and where isn’t or that there’s no traffic expected for another few hours, just tell them when you’ve landed. Some firing ranges publish timetables showing when the guns are going to go off, and you are usually ok to fly outside of those times, but contact the supervising officer for permission.
Above 250g, now that’s a different matter altogether, and I don’t know much about it…
TL;DR
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I’m a latecomer to this thread as I’ve only just purchased a Potensic Atom 2 drone (under 250g) and discovered this website. I am a member of the Committee of the Friends of Croxley Common Moor and intend to fly my drone there.
As far as I am aware the position is as follows:
Three Rivers District Council bye-laws, Part 6, prohibit the flying of any model aircraft at any of their recreation sites. The definition would include drones.
However, for very many years, a model aeroplane club has operated, with Council permission, from Croxley Common Moor. There is an area of short grass, in the centre of the Moor, west of the main path, which is/was used as a runway.
At the entrance gate from Moor Lane Crossing (Ebury Way) there is a sign giving permitted Model Aircraft flying days and hours.
The Moor is a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, designated mainly for the wide variety of wildflowers found there. Of course, there will also be nesting birds in the spring/summer, and care should be taken not to disturb them.
Three Rivers District Council CANNOT legitimately prohibit you from flying your drone in ANY airspace where you are permitted to do so by the CAA; they have no jurisdiction over this airspace, and in fact NOBODY does except the CAA. That said, as owners/authorised managers of the common, they can prohibit your TOALing there. As a member of the Committee of the Friends of Croxley Common Moor you may wish to engage with Three Rivers on this point. Their notices are meaningless except for the TOAL issue, and I suspect they will tell you that they prohibit TOAL except for that agreed with the model aircraft club. In which case they should be telling you this in their notices, not that they prohibit flying. I might be worth referring this to the CAA, who get shirty when their authority is challenged! The CAA’s job is to ensure that UK airspace is safely available for all who want to use it, and to manage it accordingly. Take CAA advice, talk to the engine driver not the oilrag.
If Three Rivers prohibit TOAL, and bearing in mind that you probably want to avoid the model aircraft operation because of the collision risk, that leaves overflying. You can TOAL from permitted land including public highways, footpaths, &c outside the Common, and overfly within the limitations of the CAA drone code. That means VLOS, privacy/consideration for others, general good behaviour, and appropriate observance of any FRZ/NOTAM.