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Cyberhawk was recently selected to complete two railway surveys in the north of Scotland, near Inverness, using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). With the two routes stretching across 15km, the survey was required to gain an initial understanding and gather an up-to-date record of the various trackside habitats such as salt marsh, coastal areas, forests, farmlands and open water in order to identify potential ecological constraints.
Using UAVs for this project meant that a much greater area could be covered in the constrained time than traditional methods. Aerial images provide a useful means of assessing and characterising habitat types according to recognised JNCC Phase 1 Habitat Survey classes. In certain situations it may be possible to identify the boundaries of vegetation stands, and whilst drones provide a means of collecting data efficiently over an extensive area, they are also useful when surveying sites where access on foot is difficult, e.g. bogs, watercourses, cliffs, intertidal habitats.
Cyberhawk was contracted to complete this survey on behalf of Ecus Environmental Consultants.
Typically, this job would be completed by ecologists on foot, however due to project specific challenges
and restricted timeframes Ecus decided to look at a more innovative approach to overcome the problems.
