So, I went out this morning to the Uffington White Horse which is a National Trust monument/site. They have the usual stuff on their website about no drone flying because of x,y,z. However, none of the reasons given for not flying drones applied to me flying a DJI Mini 1 at a time when no one would be there.
So I get to the car park and there is one other person there, fine I think, I’ll get cracking and they won’t know see/hear the drone. I head out and start flying, getting some lovely shots, the sheep are so unimpressed by my/my drones presence that they are walking towards me…
I have my first shots and land. Walking towards my next location I hear a drone… I can’t see it so don’t launch mine as I have no real idea where it is.
Watching my film back later, I catch sight of the person from the car park stood waiting to launch their drone from the top of the hill.
So in my first hour at the National Trust site this morning I saw/heard two drone flights (including mine) and only one dog walker!
None of us caused any stress to visitors, wildlife or anything else…
The best bit is they choose to advertise the site with this drone picture of it!
They do now acknowledge that the legal side if it is a mess though ‘The overall legal position regarding drones is somewhat unclear and subject to forthcoming government consultation.’