Yorkshire & Humberside Meet - Hull - Sunday 10 September 2023

Thanks… not particularly nervous doing the under bridge shots, had done an underflight a year before, the one between the pillars was new, but a lot wider than some gaps I have flown through with the MINI3 Pro ~:) Did an underflight of one of the bridges at Falls of Bruar, about 2’ 6" clearance either side, and about 18" above and below - or so it felt, that was a little more twitchy bum tbh :slight_smile:

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Thats great i tried once with a Bridge near me but had bad signal and the drone started to go to return height. But luckily I regained signal before it did .so next time i should set return hight lower😀

The early crew…

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the sun is now up …

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Hmm, just had an interesting email from the project manager for Humbr Nature Project… Some interesting questions, I am penning a response, but am happy to let the organisers respond if they prefer?

Email text below…

Good morning,

To quickly introduce myself, my name is Jackson Sage and I am the Project Manager for the Humber Management Scheme at Humber Nature Partnership. As you may know, the Humber Estuary is internationally important for wildlife and designated as a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area (SPA), Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Ramsar Site. Together these designations form the Humber Estuary European Marine Site (EMS). The Humber Management Scheme provides a coordinated and joined-up approach with around 30 organisations for the management of the Humber EMS.

The estuary is home to a number of protected habitats, but perhaps more pertinent in this case 150,000+ birds that both breed and overwinter on the estuary. Some of these birds are species in sharp population decline, or have travelled thousands of miles from the likes of Greenland or Siberia and are using the estuary as a vital feeding ground. As such, many of these species are protected from disturbance under UK law.

I work closely with the Natural England on issues around the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and Humberside Police on Operation Seabird, a nationwide operation to address wildlife disturbance. In the past, I worked with the CAA to encourage them to make links to wildlife legislation and include references to SSSI’s in both CAP722 and the Drone Code, which they did in the last update. Additionally, I provided both Altitude Angel and DroneScene (part of Grey Arrows Drone Club) staff with the code to update SSSI mapping onto their systems for users.

I noticed your video on YouTube this morning relating to the Grew Arrows Drone Club meet at Barton upon Humber (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R628w4pCVSk) and one from Hessle foreshore (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WznnbvqZFlQ) . Having spoken to Natural England, they have stated that they received no contact regarding drone flights at or around the Humber Bridge for September and issued no consents.

Before I go any further, I want to make clear that this is not intended to be a ‘finger-pointing’ email, but one where I am trying to understand so we can improve our messaging. As I have tried to improve communications with drone operators through the CAA, various drone businesses and commercial operators directly, I wanted to understand if (a) the pilots involved were not aware of the SSSI designation in the area, or (b) were aware but thought it would be ok, or (c) something else.

As I mentioned, there is no fingerpointing and this will not be reported further to Natural England or Humberside Police as there is not any hard-evidence of disturbance being caused from the videos. This is purely to help me understand what more can be done from my end.

Kindest regards,

Jackson Sage
Project Manager
Humber Nature Partnership
Waters Edge Visitor Centre
Maltkin Road
Barton upon Humber
North Lincolnshire
DN18 5JR

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Mmm, no hard evidance, maybe because we didnt disturb them apart from the Karens :roll_eyes:

Even more famous now Suzanne :grin:
@milkmanchris

This is my response email… @milkmanchris you ok with this, do you want to respond directly to him?

@PingSpike do you want to get involved?

Good Morning Mr Sage,

Thanks for your email and explanation, and for seeking clarity to ensure improved communication and message dissipation.

I was one of 12 who attended the Drone Meet at the Humber Bridge, in my own case as an individual member of Grey Arrows, I was not the organiser so was not responsible for seeking flight permissions from Natural England, but will pass on the requirement to do so in the future to those who organised the meet up. Looking at the Drone Apps and the text of the SSSI it does not state no drone flying nor at any point does it state that flight permission needs to be sought from Natural England - if that was the case then I am certain the organiser would have done so - as would I. https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/2000480.pdf

Without asking those involved in organising the meet I cannot comment as to whether they were aware of the SSI and made their decision based on the details of the SSSI. I would assume that - as we are all CAA registered Drone Operators (I also have my A2 CofC qualification as well as my Flyer ID) seeking to fly legally and safely - that they were aware and made a decision based on the SSSI data. I have asked the organisers to comment on the forum, and will happily pass their responses on or facilitate direct contact with them for yourself, assuming I am given permission by the individuals to do so.

Prior to attending the meet I did look at both Altitude Angel and Drone Scene maps, and seeing no FRZ in place I looked deeper, noting the Crown Foreshore which allows TOAL permission for Drone users and then took a look at the SSSI for the area - which does not constitute an FRZ - noting the detail of the overwintering birds and breeding birds. As the breeding season is now complete and this years chicks have fledged, and the migrating overwintering birds have not yet arrived I assumed we would be clear to fly, especially as in the main I want to keep my drone as far away from birds as possible in order not to cause harm to them or to have my drone damaged. In order to make things clearer may I suggest that the SSI designation includes any contact details needed for flight permissions and also dates where breeding birds or overwintering birds may be present to afford everyone the best opportunity of making an informed decision.

Both of my flights took place from the southern bank of the Humber on the 10th September, and were conducted between 615am and 1000am. I took great care to remain clear of any birds in the area and to keep a safe and legal distance from any uninvolved people that were at the site. IIRC there was one bird who flew close to the drone on my backwards flight just after dawn - with collision avoidance enabled - when the birds were rising from their overnight roosting, once I got the drone back from the area I then landed until they had left the area.

All of the flights that I saw on the day by all those in attendance were conducted according to CAA Drone Code, and with minimal disturbance to both people and wildlife in the area, no birds or animals were harmed, disturbed or distressed by our presence.

If you feel that my drone videos on Youtube may cause others to fly without forethought I would happily add a caveat to the description on the video to warn others to stay clear at certain times of year and to check with Natural England for flight permissions as a matter of courtesy.

I hope this is of help…

Kind regards
Suzanne Read

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It does not warrant or need a reply from anyone, much less a detailed explanation or justification. I would simply delete the email before anyone inadvertently incriminates themselves, or others.

How did this person get hold of your email address @AlbionDrones ?

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Agreed, unless the CAA or The Police contacted me directly regarding any of my drone flights, I’ll just be deleting the emails/comments or whatever form of communication they choose to use to contact me.

:+1:t2:

Good point that Rich @PingSpike :thinking:

He must have got it from our YT Channel as it came in via that email…

I had already responded, and just got this back… Not at all negative, which is good…

Hi Suzanne,

Thank you for your quick and detailed response. I always worry that people might misunderstand the reason for my concern and think that I am being combative, when in reality I am just trying to have a conversation and understand both sides. Those who work in conservation full-time can sometimes forget that what is obvious to them can be completely alien to someone else (and vice-versa).

I’ll try to address each of the points you make just for further clarification.

“Looking at the Drone Apps and the text of the SSSI it does not state no drone flying nor at any point does it state that flight permission needs to be sought from Natural England - if that was the case then I am certain the organiser would have done so - as would I”.

The SSSI Citation document is purely there to list why the site has been designated as a SSSI, detailing the species and habitats present. The trouble is that a lot of the documentation has not kept up with the speed at which technology has grown (the SSSI citation document dates back almost 20 years to 2004). A decade ago, drones were not on our radar as something that could cause an issue…the same can be said for paddleboards which I often receive reports about disturbing seals that have hauled out to rest (but that’s another matter!). Natural England does have an ORNEC list (Operations Requiring Natural England Consent - https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Consent/2000480.pdf) that details that both “Vehicles” and “Recreational Activity” require consent. This all depends on what you determine to be a vehicle and what you determine to be recreational activity.

Consent may not always be required though as it does largely depend on time of year, exact location, planned route, altitude, state of tide etc, hence why CAP722 (top of Pg 20 http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP722_Edition_9.1%20(1).pdf) states that Natural England should be contacted for further guidance.

Prior to attending the meet I did look at both Altitude Angel and Drone Scene maps, and seeing no FRZ in place I looked deeper, noting the Crown Foreshore which allows TOAL permission for Drone users and then took a look at the SSSI for the area - which does not constitute an FRZ. As the breeding season is now complete and this years chicks have fledged, and the migrating overwintering birds have not yet arrived I assumed we would be clear to fly, especially as in the main I want to keep my drone as far away from birds as possible in order not to cause harm to them or to have my drone damaged. In order to make things clearer may I suggest that the SSI designation includes any contact details needed for flight permissions and also dates where breeding birds or overwintering birds may be present to afford everyone the best opportunity of making an informed decision.

Completely agree regarding SSSI’s not constituting as an FRZ. From discussions with Altitude Angel when we were working on the mapping, the decision was to list it under “Ground Hazards” as something for pilots to be aware of (and potentially avoid, as you would a high-voltage pylon) rather than a restriction. As a side note, “Overwintering birds” is a bit of a misnomer. Although they certainly are here overwinter, they start to arrive late August/Early September (we’ve had 1,000s arrive on the estuary in the past few days alone due to the strong westerlies) and leave February/March time…so although they’re called “Overwintering”, they can be here for 6 months of the year.

Onto your second point I completely agree again! It is not something that will be able to be included in the designation, however it certainly is something that should exist! This is something I have already been pushing Natural England at the national level to work on for the past two years, as they have no real public facing guidance on drones. There is clear evidence (from your email and others that I have spoken to) that drone operators want to do the right thing, not cause any problems and just enjoy their hobby; however if that information is not made available to them then they surely cannot be at fault.

I think the next steps for me are to push harder with Natural England on some guidance for Drone Operators. There is the issue of how that information is then disseminated to drone pilots, but we will cross that bridge later.

I want to thank you again for your time in responding, and ask that if you have any more questions or any more feedback then please get back to me.

Kindest regards and happy flying 😊

Jackson

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The Avata v Bike chase

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Wondered when this would surface, cracking video and a fun day too :+1:

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I’ve got a video of my perspective of this with my 6s cinewhoop. I’ll dig it out.