Project: Drones for Ecology!

Hello,

My names is James, and I am 24.
This page is set up to help me raise funds to buy drone equipment to help with ecology and share the beauty of Northumberland in the United Kingdom.

You too can get involved by donating to the project and helping to record what you see when you are out!

Drones  are extremely underused in Ecology, and I am proposing a possible change. Northumberland has many unexplored areas, and some of the locations are extremely beautiful; you would not believe that these areas exist. The wildlife here is especially amazing, and this is where the new equipment (such as drones) could be of service.

An example of just one use of drones towards the study of adders:

Adders  (Vipera Berus) are locally abundant in Northumberland, there are many sites and we (my father; who is an Ecologist, my younger brother and I), go out in our spare time to record, and document wildlife; sending our records to various organisations.

Adders are our main interest. They are beautiful creatures, and you have probably passed a few when out on walks; they are not as the media portrays them. Adders would rather keep out of your way.

You can actually identify adders by their head patterns, but that is hard without disturbing them either by catching them or getting pretty close photography wise.
Adders cannot hear, but they do feel vibrations when you walk, and therefore with the advancements in drone technology this will increase identification and decrease invasive actions on their natural habitat. Using the drones with 4K cameras, we can fly high above the adders taking high resolution photos. These photos will then allow us to identify them and record their habitual activities.

It's not only adders I want to help; there are lots of possibilities such as: frogs, toads, newts, foxes, badgers, and so on that need to be explored.

Another Example of drone application in the field:

Habitat monitoring. It's very important to assess how habit changes and with the innovations in drone gps technology this could be done incredibly easily.
Imagine plotting gps points onto a map on your phone, and sending off the drone to autonomously fly that route, you do that once a month over a year or more to collect data on how the habitat changes and use that information in future conservation of the area.

About the Drone:
DJI Inspire 1
The reason DJI Inspire 1 has been chosen as our aim for this project is because of its features:

4K Camera
Built in GPS
Dual Flight Control
Easy to fly
& Much, much more! you can read about here!

Together with YOUR HELP! we can make a difference and advance technology in ecology.

Even if snakes are not your favourite, please consider donating to help make a difference. We would be gracious of your donation and put the money towards our endeavour.

I am using GoFundMe to help demonstrate the spectacular, and natural beauty of Northumberland --via drone footage which will be available on YouTube. Hopefully we can share the experience of these beautiful lands, and further our understanding of the animals and their habitats.


Goals:

A) Gain funds for a drone.

B) Start a YouTube channel and or possibly a blog; using the drone footage to show off the beauty in Northumberland. Creating tourism to visit and explore what is an often forgotten part of the England.
We will also be showcasing our work and monitoring of adders.

C) Use the drone to advance Ecological work; testing with the adders for the use of recording them.

D) Use the drone to map areas of ecological interest: i.e. Adder Hibernacula.

E) Explore other uses of drones in ecology, and photography.


Please donate if YOU believe in our goals, and would like to further progress the ecology in England.

Thank you for consideration, and courteous donations.
Please share this to spread the word of our cause.

If donating isn’t your cup of tea, but you would still enjoy contributing;
Please get involved! Record it! Take a notepad, and scribble down anything you see, take a photo (try not to disturb the animal(s)), and you can send your records to places such as: http://www.recordpool.org.uk/

I will be updating this over time, with plans and ideas.