Map of the Month - November 2024

November 2024’s Map of the Month shows UAV scrub mapping at Bull Ings SSSI, Cropton!

This month’s map shows mapping of scrub at Bull Ings SSSI, Cropton, mapping using UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone) technology by NEYEDC, using our eBeeX drone. This work was undertaken by our intern Robert Bailey, who developed an interest in drone work whilst on a placement with us during his degree. Rob’s recent work investigated how we may be able to use drone technology to map scrub encroachment at protected grassland sites, which is essential for management. Drone mapping gives a greater accuracy than estimating by eye, current, high-resolution imagery, maximises efficiency, and automatically digitises scrub.

The map shows vegetation mapped over an existing satellite map, with polygons coloured by height. This ‘canopy height model’ was created using outputs from the drone, including spot height data and RGB and Multispectral cameras. In this map, vegetation over 5m or other features above this height have been removed, as this will not equate to scrub. What is left is vegetation that fits the height profile of scrub, mapping potential encroachment.

Further improvements could be to revisit sites and establish average scrub heights to help guide height classifications in the mapping, as there can be an overlap between the heights of scrub and other vegetation such as tall ruderal. Other drone sensors could also potentially be utilised to classify vegetations down to species or types, and integrating this work with R, python, and other coding platforms could increase analysis power. At the moment, this method looks to be a promising method of estimating scrub which could be developed further.