SSSI permissions. Trackbed survey

SancastleAerial · 12 September 2023 11:06

Based on the turn on up spec & take some video of their little train exercise I did on Sunday, the Halesworth to Southwold NGRS have asked me to take a look to see if I could survey the remains of their route from Southwold to Blythburgh (the section from Blythburgh to Halesworth has already been done & now I can see why they did that bit first)

Here’s the issue. As you can see in image 1

the trackbed from the bottom left of the map (Southwold station site) right out to the Bridge over the River Blyth is across common land & the course of the line is easy to follow.

Until you find out that not only is the common is covered by an SSSI

that everything up to Blythburgh is as well.

I know Natural England get a bit snippy if you go disturbing the Great Crested Glebe during nesting season or go bothering the Horny Tailed Toad during its annual migration to Orford Ness so where would I begin to get the authorisation for this.

And secondly, given the amount of flight planning & the use of 2x observers what would be a fair and reasonable price?

Thanks in advance chaps

PingSpike · 12 September 2023 11:15

Someone charged £30 just recently, it might have been you

SancastleAerial · 12 September 2023 11:17

Half a dozen pictures of a blokes house does not equal four miles of trackbed and applications to naturists to let me take off

ximi · 12 September 2023 11:30

Natural England have been quite good in the past with environmental flights we’ve done.
Outline what you’re doing, when, why and who for and they can consider any impact.
E.g. flying over a large bird oriented SSSI, they gave permission but advised on what time of year to avoid, and limits on number of days spent overflying. As long as we abided by that they were ok.

SancastleAerial · 12 September 2023 11:42

Super job, thank you. The chunk on the common I’m not so worried about, it’s that big bit in the middle with the Heronry & the chap from Antiques Roadshow who lives out that way flapping his arms like a pregnant duck squarking “The Birds, the birds!” every time the potential of a little steam railway returning to the area after it’s 100 year slumber is mentioned in his earshot.

PingSpike · 12 September 2023 11:44

I viewed this area on Drone Scene:

Where it contains a link for more information about this specific SSSI:

Following that link through provides this information:

The tidal mudflats of the River Blyth estuary form sheltered feeding grounds for wildfowl and shorebirds, notably wigeon, shelduck, redshank and dunlin. Saltmarsh, dominated by sea purslane Halimione portulacoides, but also composed of sea

lavender Limonium vulgare, sea aster Aster tripolium and common cord-grass Spartina anglica fringes the southern shore of the estuary. Other saltmarsh species include glasswort Salicornia spp., sea rush Juncus maritimus, common saltmarsh grass Puccinellia maritima and sea couch-grass Elymus pycnanthus.
Shingle beach forms the coastline at Walberswick and Minsmere. This is subject to sea erosion and human disturbance but, nevertheless, it supports a variety of scarce shingle plants including sea pea Lathyrus japonicus, sea campion Silene maritima and small populations of sea kale Crambe maritima, grey hair-grass Corynephorus canescens and yellow horned-poppy Glaucium flavum. A narrow strip of yellow dune extends southwards at Minsmere behind which is a strip of dune grassland. A series of shallow, brackish lagoons and saltmarsh occurs behind the shingle beach between Walberswick and Dunwich.
Extensive reedbeds, consisting largely of pure stands of reed Phragmites australis, occur at Minsmere and Walberswick. These developed on former grazing marshes which were flooded as a war-time defence measure in 1940. Both marshes contain shallow pools of open water and are intersected by deep water channels. The reedbeds are an important habitat for birds and insects. There are large breeding populations of reed warbler and bearded tit. Other notable breeding species include marsh harrier, bittern, cetti’s warbler, garganey and water rail. The marshes have a rich insect fauna; particularly moths, which includes a number of rare species: notably Archanara neurica, Photedes brevilinea and Senta flammea.
At Minsmere, a 20 hectare area of shallow lagoons and islands has been created for wading birds and wildfowl. This area is renowned for its breeding colony of avocets; shoveler, gadwall, teal and shelduck also breed.
Large blocks of grazing marsh are found near Eastbridge and Southwold. These marshes support a high number of species of breeding waterfowl such as snipe, redshank, gadwall, shoveler and black-tailed godwit. Dykes within the marshes contain very diverse aquatic plant communities, with brackish and freshwater types represented. Many nationally rare and scarce invertebrates such as the soldier fly Odontomyia ornata are found east of Eastbridge, as are a number of nationally scarce plants including sea barley Hordeum marinum and whorled water-milfoil Myriophyllum verticillatum. The marshes west of Eastbridge support a mosaic of different unimproved wetland communities including fen-meadow characterised by blunt-flowered rush Juncus subnodulosus and marsh thistle Cirsium palustre, reed beds, swamps dominated by lesser pond sedge Carex acutiformis, marshes dominated by meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria with some angelica Angelica sylvestris, and alder Alnus glutinosa woodland.
High land at Minsmere, Westleton and Walberswick forms part of the East Suffolk Sandlings and is composed of infertile sands and gravels. This supports large areas of lowland heath, bracken, dry acidic grassland, woods and scrub.
Lowland heath, dominated by ling Calluna vulgaris but also containing bell heath Erica cinerea and cross-leaved heath E. tetralix, occupies a large continuous tract of about 400 ha at Minsmere, Dunwich and Westleton Heath with smaller areas at

Walberswick. This heathland provides a valuable habitat for two nationally decreasing birds, the. nightjar and woodlark.
Patches of unimproved acid grassland in which red fescue Festuca rubra and common bent Agrostis capillaris predominate, occur through the site but areas dominated by wavy hair-grass Deschampsia flexuosa, purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea and sand sedge Carex arenaria also occur. A variety of other acid grassland plants is also present, of which heath bedstraw Galium saxatile and sheep’s sorrel Rumex acetosella are common. Scarce species include bird’s-foot clover Trifolium ornithopodioides and mossy stonecrop Crassula tillaea together with a small colony of red-tipped cudweed Filago lutescens. There are also substantial areas dominated by bracken Pteridium aquilinum or gorse Ulex europaeus and U. gallii.
Mature plantation woodland, chiefly of oak Quercus robur or Scots pine Pinus sylvestris but also including sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus and sweet chestnut Castanea sativa, occur at Minsmere and Walberswick. Naturally regenerated woods of birch Betula pendula and Scots pine have arisen on former heathland and alder Alnus glutinosa, sallow Salix spp. and birch woodlands are also present on wet ground. This woodland and scrub provides important additional habitat diversity for birds and invertebrates.

Source: https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1000721.pdf

SancastleAerial · 12 September 2023 11:46

Thanking you. I’ve just become a paid member so I now have access to that.

PingSpike · 12 September 2023 12:20

It’s a great resource, I use it all the time.

Coming back to your fee-charging question:

What’s your day-rate? And how much are your two observers costing you? Other overheads? Fuel, insurance, cost of your time for pre-planning, time for post-editing, etc. Who is your client? What’s their annual turnover (ie. are they minted?) What’s their budget? There are so many factors to consider

I was blown away by your last £30 fee, I would genuinely have put another zero on the end of that one

SancastleAerial · 12 September 2023 13:04

The client has very little money given they are a registered very small charity with limited resources and a friendly Baronet who likes to let them play on his land but doesn’t have a lot of cash to throw ariu s. A realistic price for this would be way out of their league factoring in fhe administrative side. The observers will probably have £50+ a day plus I’m feeding them. Its soon going to start racking up.

AdrianR · 13 September 2023 08:45

One approach is to work out a price you would charge a well-off client (that reflects a sensible business charge you’d need to make to make a living). Then decide what you think the charity can afford. And then decide if you are happy to make the difference into a (virtual) donation to the charity.

JockyB · 13 September 2023 11:22

I think “naturists “ prefer you to take off something

SancastleAerial · 13 September 2023 14:01

It’s not a huge drive to get to the Southwold terminus site (about 8 miles) and they don’t so much want a survey but an aerial of the route. They aren’t going to put any track back on this part either so it’s purely for display purposes and to show what is beyond their new terminus at Blythburgh.

This is what their previous chap did on the western part of the line a few years ago. I’m sure I can put something better together with an M3P, an assistant on a pushbike, active track and a couple of spotters.