Lake district firm HiDef Aerial Surveying announced they have been contracted to undertake trial surveys for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The agreement is to develop a bespoke digital video survey model to conduct census counts of various deer species within the Scottish Highlands. Historically the surveys have been undertaken using two helicopters relying on specialist SNH staff to capture still images from hand held cameras. HiDef approached the statutory advisor advocating the use of a fixed wing aircraft operating at significantly higher altitudes with a view to reducing costs.

John Martin, Managing Director at HiDef commented, “Performing surveys from fixed wing platform offers substantial benefits in terms of reduction of health and safety hazards and avoiding disturbance to the deer through low level helicopter noise. Fixed wing also offer cost reductions potentially allowing for a more extensive survey regime.”

We are pleased to announce that Andy Webb, JNCC’s senior marine bird officer will be joining the HiDef Aerial Surveying team at the end of September. As Environmental & Statistics Manager Andy will be responsible for the development of services, working in partnership with our clients, statutory advisors and regulators.

Webb has spent the last 28 years working in various roles within JNCC, most recently as Seabird and Cetacean Monitoring Ecologist where he was responsible for developing advice on options for monitoring seabirds and cetaceans in UK waters to meet statutory and international obligations. Andy is credited with being one of a handful of stakeholders responsible for pioneering the use of digital technology in ecological surveying.

John Martin, Managing Director at HiDef commented “Quite rightly advisors and regulators are asking challenging questions of offshore wind farm developers, it is our task to ensure as a service provider we understand these questions, and through technology are able to address them on behalf of the renewables sector. To do this in a robust and cost effective manner one needs to have full visibility of the rationale the advisory and regulatory community are employing. Andy gives us an unparalleled insight into these questions and will be central to further increasing the value we offer to the community in the future.”