Dong funds bird counting trial on Yorkshire coast

Danish energy company Dong Energy A/S (CPH:DENERG) has funded a drone trial to count cliff-nesting seabirds on the Yorkshire coast.

The trial was conducted at ​a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve and involved the use of a high specification drone provided by environmental consultancy NIRAS, the company said on Tuesday.

The aim was to see whether the technology is suitable to carry out future surveys of cliff-nesting seabirds. The data from the survey is used by the RSPB and will also help Dong as it plans for the development of wind farms off the Yorkshire coast, such as the up-to-2.4-GW Hornsea Three project, the company said.

The trial was successful as the drone was able to get close enough to the colony to provide imagery detailed enough to distinguish between the different species without disturbing the birds.

Previous seabird counts have been done visually from a boat and were very dependent on weather.

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