BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-08)

DRONES

48 BBC Wildlife August 2020

disturb the animal, it’s a waste of time being

there. We’re after natural behaviour.”

BBC editorial guidelines cover drones in

detail – each crew has an embedded drone

pilot who knows the rules – but not every

videographer or photographer is as careful.

The Wildlife Trusts’ 2019 marine review

reported that drones were disturbing wildlife

around British coasts. One cruise ship

ornithologist told BBC Wildlife: “Pretty much

every time I’ve seen a drone used near birds

in coastal environments, they get disturbed.”

He said he has witnessed disruption to an

Arctic tern colony, roosting waders being

flushed and, in Alaska, saw bald eagles and

belted kingfishers “flying in to investigate

and attack a drone.”

Keep your distance

In December 2018, BBC Wildlife published

a photograph sent by a concerned reader

of two drones hovering above bottlenose

dolphins in the Moray Firth (see page 47).

For an expert opinion, the magazine turned

to Colin Jackson, then Drone Lead at the

BBC Natural History Unit and now its senior

innovation producer. He suggested that in

this case the dolphins would probably not

have been bothered. “Noise pollution in the

water from drones flying 5–10m above the

surface is only recordable down to 1m depth,”

he explained.

Yet there is mounting anecdotal evidence

of drones pestering animals – and not

just coastal and marine species. Five years

ago, a video clip that went viral showed a

captive chimp swatting a drone with a stick,

smashingit

out of the sky.

In Somerset, drones have

been piloted into swirling

starling murmurations

at dusk, with unknown

consequences. The problem

is, as Colin pointed out in

his reply, relatively little

research has been done

on how different species

respond to drones.

During one intriguing

study last year, researchers

in Senegal flew drones past

green monkeys to gauge

their response. The monkeys

quickly adopted a new alarm

call, similar to a cough-like

‘eagle alert’ vocalisation in related vervet

monkeys. Drones were clearly perceived

as a threat. On the other hand, a study

that took place in 2015 found that flocks

of flamingos and mallards ignored drones

flying just 4m away. The drones’ colour,

flight speed and angle of approach made

no difference. But the birds in this research

were captive, and therefore habituated to

people – it’s possible wild individuals would

behave differently.

How do we know

what an animal

is feeling? We

can observe its

behaviour but this

may not be enough.

Left and below:

drones have been

used to survey a

variety of wildlife,

including seabird

colonies on

Bempton clis.