Places to fly near Ashford, Kent

Where to fly your drone in the UK
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Anywhere safe to fly my drone near Ashford, Kent.

Also are the any easyt ways to find out who owns bits of land such as farmers fields without paying Land Registry :laughing:

Thanks
Ben

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Have a gander here @BenC

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I am using DJI Fly App, Drone Assist and a handy app called Maps Measure to measure safe distances between buildings, etc.

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Hey @BenC I am also in Ashford, Wye downs is a good place to go, can get a bit windy but spectacular views and loads of room. Steer clear of any land belonging to the Godinton estate as they are not drone friendly.

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Drone assist shows that we shouldn’t really fly on that area. Although, the Crown area shows fine. I was thinking of doing a sunrise visit this week, if I can get up. Sunrise is 450am!

I was also hoping to fly around Eastwell Lake and the old St Mary’s church between Kennington and Westwell.

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Looks ok from here @BenC

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I see this on the Drone Assist app

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Is there a question hiding in there somewhere @BenC ? :slight_smile:

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It’s a hazard: a warning about something to consider when flying. There may, or may not be, legal restrictions locally. But it’s not a CAA designated flight restriction zone (FRZ).

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It was more of a “asking your opinions” on this.

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Don’t scare the animals, don’t endanger anyone or anything, use some common sense to judge your flight at the time - that’s all - you’re good to go :slight_smile:

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Thanks for everyone’s feedback. I wasn’t trying to get anyone into trouble. It was more to do with should I be flying there?

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I flew in a local nature reserve just last night. It’s nesting season so that’s reason to be cautious as it is illegal to disturb nesting birds (people get all worried that the birds will think the drone is a predator), but the reality is often that the birds are far more bothered by dog-walkers at ground level than by a drone once it’s at height.

Yours is a National Nature Reserve, which I think does not make much difference legally. Some Nature Reserves are covered by protective bye-laws - you can ask Natural England or the local Wildlife Trust if that’s the case. The “official” page for the Wye NNR is here - sometimes it’s worth looking those up to see if there are any details you should know.

Sometimes it depends who the landowner is e.g. my local nature reserve is owned by the local council. They may have restrictive policies or bye-laws in place.

I would go with @PingSpike’s advice.

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I have flown there several times in the last month, not had any problems. I advise mornings or evenings as it’s normally quieter. I always tend to keep the drone at a decent height so most walkers don’t even notice it.

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I live around Ashford Kennington area. Re Wye Downs, one of my mates used to work for NNR in the local area. His answer was same as ‘kventner’ says, do not fly close to birds and go for it.

My advice is go early in the morning so there aren’t any dog walkers around. There were a few people around when I was flying my drone and I just told them and all of them were so cool. If you chat with ppl around you before flying, they always appreciate our concern about the safety.

This is my first ever drone flight (was quite nervous:): Wye Downs - Kent 26 February - YouTube
You can see there aren’t any birds near me:)