So out on a walk over the weekend and found a really cool spot for miniquad flying. Small field with lots of trees and bushes to dodge, well tucked out of the way from general public.
The only problem is it's a nature reserve. What are your opinions about this? I should probably add along two sides of this field is a busy A-road, so there's already a lot of traffic noise. If it wasn't already so noisy there I probably wouldn't consider it. Just wanted some opinions as I'm on the fence about whether it's ok to fly in a 'specified' nature reserve.
No I wouldn't
Depends.
I see absolutely nothing at all wrong with chucking a Phantom up and getting some nice scenic shots.
A venturi wing or something noisy? Not so much - but a Phantom doesn't exactly spoil the scene with noise does it, especially at a decent altitude.
So yea - I would under certain circumstances.
I wouldn't either, the point of a reserve is that nature is left undisturbed. Then you would be going in there and effectively disturbing it which guaranteed is going to provoke the public that go there.
The fact that you are asking the question - Should I ? proves you have your own doubts.
Using the principle of common sense alone, doubts + common sense = No (to be safe) !!!
I don't think a small drone is going to cause issues for wildlife when you have an A road next to it.
Quite possibly not but you can 100% guarantee that any twitcher wouldn't agree and would be the first to go and complain. So no, I'd not bother either.
I guess the clue is in the title "nature reserve" ie. reserved for nature. Many nature reserves don't have public footpaths running through them either but in the ones that do, would you feel happy on your quiet stroll to encounter 3-4 mountain bikers going hell for leather and using it as a racetrack?
I'm with Steve on this one, if you're after some kind of artistic photo, then flying a relatively quiet and relatively slow phantom to capture a great shot, then that's cool. After all a phantom is essentially an extension of your photographic repertoire. The operative phrase here then is "common sense".
I do however disagree with "I don't think a small drone is going to cause issues for wildlife when you have an A road next to it."
The animals get used to the noise from a particular direction/location but introduce anything new and it tends to upset things.
not all nature reserves are equal, some are for birds others are for flora, fauna and insects
Wormwood scrubbs is mostly a nature reserve with a public flying field bang in the middle, it doesn't seem to bother the frogs
as is another field I fly at occasionally, this has an area used by large gas 3d helicopters and you can hear them half a mile away
again without problem
the London wetland centre is a large wildfowl reserve, fly there and you would have Joanna Lumley to answer to :D
Exactly, I can see both sides of the argument too which is why I had my doubts. As Loopdreams mentioned, a big concern is the Bill Oddie types who most certainly wouldn't be happy about a miniquad zipping about. Maybe a quieter camera platform they could be talked round on with politeness etc.
It's a really cool spot, and if it hadn't been designated 'nature reserve' I'd ask the landowner permission to fly there and not worry about the nature at all (as we all do in other spots). It does have public footpaths through the area, but I think I won't fly there to avoid upsetting both people and animals!
I think the decision should be weighed up according to the type of nature reserve and season.
I have flown fixed wing (Twinstar) at three locations within the same nature reserve.
Location 1 was at the mouth of the estuary and above a large seal colony. They were totally unperturbed and undisturbed. I was careful to throttle back when I came down low over them. There were also a few wading birds which didn't bother about the big whiite bird.
Location 2 was further upstream and over mudflats where there were a few wading birds which again didn't seem perturbed.
Location 3 was even further upstream and over a wide river which again had a few wading birds, unperturbed.
I then flew the Twinstar at a couple of coastal locations which were not nature reserves and the seagulls were very vocal although they made no attempt to attack.
I next a quad over a river which had a small stoney island with a few wading birds. They did scatter but I suspect it was the noise.
I think that birds may get upset and aggresive if it is during the mating and nesting season. However I can't really think of any nature reserves which are undisturbed. People walk freely over them and often have dogs (on leads if required). Incidentally the nature reserve with the seals advises that dogs are put on leads as the seals will attack and kill them.