Join our Scottish interns, Ewan Garvey and Jasper Brown as they explore the 2025 drone work as part of the Accelerate Seagrass programme.
1. Beginning Monitoring
Prior to the commencement of drone work, site assessments were conducted, these checked for air restrictions, site accessibility and permissions required to access land.
Drum Sands (bottom), is a site we have recently mapped and is located within a private estate, requiring permission for access to get to and work on site.
This site is located just outside of Edinburgh airport’s no fly zone, a restricted air space which must be kept clear of, at all times.
2. On Site
After arriving at the site, we had to transport the kit and get it set up for flying, This included: a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), Ground Control Points (GCP’s) and the drone itself.
The DGPS is a device which communicates with satellites and allows for extremely accurate spatial referencing of points, down to 3cm variance. The benefits of this system are to allow you to return to the exact location for continuous monitoring.
GCP’s were positioned along the sample area, these are large checkered squares which are easily identifiable from the air. The exact locations are taken using the DGPS, to allow for the drone images to be synced to monitoring data.
The drone was set up following our pre-flight checklist, ensuring the batteries, cameras and propellors, were all in working condition.
3. Flying
Once all the drone work had been completed, the images captured by the drone were exported and processed using specialised software, to remove the overlap between photos and to merge the separate images into one large map of the whole area.
Using other data points gathered from the area we can overlap these and the image to create an easily understood map.
We used this method to create the map (bottum) which shows Zostera noltii transplant and donor DGPS points, overlayed onto the drone footage we took of Drum Sands.
4. Challenges
One of the biggest hurdles we faced during this drone work was weather; for good quality drone work to take place there must be clear, dry skies with low wind speeds.
This was particularly inconvenient for us, as during our planned drone flights at Drum Sands, there were strong winds and rain, which meant that we were unable to fly the drone. Requesting for an extension of site access posed quite a challenge to do last minute but we managed to gain access to complete the work.
While the drone was in flight the team had to keep vigilant for potential hazards such as flying birds and members of the public.
We did this by having team members stationed along the sample locations. Each team member was provided with a radio to relay important information back to the pilot.
5. Wrap up and final product
Once all the drone work had been completed, the images captured by the drone were exported and processed using specialised software, to remove the overlap between photos and to merge the separate images into one large map of the whole area.
Using other data points gathered from the area we can overlap these and the image to create an easily understood map.
We used this method to create the map (bottum) which shows Zostera noltii transplant and donor DGPS points, overlayed onto the drone footage we took of Drum Sands.
