Back in August, I was fortunate enough to stay as a guest on the lovely Shinness Estate owned and managed by the Fletcher family. I was up there to demonstrate the drone capabilities to a number of estates that make up the local deer management group (DMG) at the Crask Inn. The aim was to investigate a landscape scale survey of the deer populations across the southern part of the DMG.
The demonstration went well and we were able to locate two roe deer in the middle of the day. The buck was chasing the doe due to the rut being in full swing. Roe deer are not as common as Sika deer in this part of the country so it was nice to find the lesser common native species for the demonstration.
After the demo a number of the land owners in the south of the DMG agreed for BH Wildlife Consultancy to do a landscape scale project to count Sika, Red and if present Roe distribution across the four estates later in the year. Some of this drone work will be carried out from a boat as that will be the easiest way to access certain parts of the estates.
Shinness Lodge (where I stayed) is a traditional Highland estate home with lots of charm and comfort. The estate house can be rented out for holidays http://www.shinnesslodge.co.uk/ .The land surrounding has the River Tirry carving through it and Loch Shin just to the west of it. The estate owners have riparian woodland creation plans along the river which should be beneficial to the fish and overall biodiversity of the area.
I look forward to going back later in November to work on this project for the estates. I’m particularly interested to see what density the Sika are present and how frequent Roe are detected.
For more on the interesting projects we have been involved have a look our website.
Opmerkingen