How the National Trust plan to use drones to count seal and bird populations across the UK.
The Challenge
The National Trust are one of the largest landowners in the United Kingdom, with almost 250,000 hectares including more than 500 historic properties including houses, castles and archaeological monuments. Alongside their property management, their land is home to a diverse range of wildlife and habitats that require ongoing conservation and management.
Given the diverse nature of National Trust sites across the UK, ranger teams want to understand how they could be using drones to maximise resource and enhance their conservation duties.
“Drones would really help us in areas of surveying and checking for flood damage, but also for wildlife conservation, such as bird and seal counts. There is a safety, benefit, an access benefit and also a time benefit.”
Glen Pearce - Property Operations Manager, Orford Ness National Nature Reserve
The solution
Ajuno worked with National Trust ranger teams across the country to identify key use cases and the system requirements for adopting drones to support their conservation duties. We explored the need for weather resistance due to the coastal location of many sites, high resolution zoom cameras to easily identify wildlife from a safe distance, and many more requirements specific to National Trust drone use.
Following this, we got boots on the ground and worked with ranger teams across key sites where drones could significantly enhance efforts of ranger teams and demonstrated how drones could successfully count seals and birds, survey buildings and provide live flooding management.
The impact
Ajuno's expertise in drone operations and the complexities that come adopting drone technology enabled the National Trust to feel confident how they could be using drones, the best available systems to meet their needs, and how they can integrate these successfully to improve management and conservation efforts.
Watch a short summary of the project here.
